Lok Sabha Election 2024: Madhya Pradesh Villagers Boycott Voting Over Lack of Basic Amenities

Villagers said that the politicians visit the village only during elections and neglect them later, leaving them to fend for themselves. Making a big claim, the villagers said that the youth in the village are not able to get married due to being "notorious for drinking water crisis".

Vidisha:Amid an enthusiasm around the 3rd phase of voting for the Lok Sabha election, locals at a village in Vidisha district of Madhya Pradesh boycotted voting in protest against what they termed as the lack of basic facilities.

Barring a lone voter who cast his vote in the morning, villagers refused to vote at Dhadon village, which comes under Shamshabad assembly constituency.

Local sources said that soon after receiving the information about poll boycott by the villagers, the concerned Tehsildar reached the village with his team on the directions of Collector Budhesh Kumar Vaidya and tried to convince the villagers but the villagers refused to cast their vote. The villagers complained that they have to face a lot of hardships due to lack of basic facilities at the village.

“There is neither road nor water in the village nor there is electricity available properly. Due to these problems in the village, the youth are not able to get married. Even if they get married, the marriage breaks after a few days. Because there is a lot of water crisis in the village. Our village is notorious for drinking water crisis in the entire district," a protesting villager said.

The villagers of Dhadon claimed that no leader of any party has ever paid any attention to the basic problems in the village. “Leaders come here only during elections. They never look back here. Memorandums were given to the district administration as well as public representatives many times regarding the basic issues but no one did anything. Therefore, all the villagers have decided that we will boycott voting," they said.

Villagers said that even before the elections, they had warned that voting would be boycotted here, but to no avail.

Voting started on Tuesday morning on nine seats of Madhya Pradesh in the third phase of Lok Sabha election. By 3 pm, over 54 percent voting was recorded by the Election Commission.