Ghatshila/East Singhbhum: Only one voter from Chhaudiya, Dhodasai and Chhabisa villages of Kanas panchayat under Dhalbhumgarh block of Jharkhand's East Singhbhum district cast vote in the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday as the rest of the villagers boycotted polling over unmet demands of infrastructure.
Of 1069 registered voters, only an elderly man, Kartik Singh Sardar, cast his vote at booth number 154. Till 1 pm, only one vote was cast here. The block-level officials are trying to convince villagers to exercise their franchise.
It has been learnt that the villagers have been demanding construction of a culvert and a road for a long time. They asked for constructing the culvert at Pampu Ghat of Swarnarekha River and road from NH-18 to Kanas. Around 15 days back, they had announced to boycott voting if their demands are not met.
However, with the administration taking no steps to fulfill their demands, the villagers decided against casting their votes this morning. Block officials reached out to the villages and explained them about the importance of voting. The villagers agreed to cast their votes but did not turn up at the polling station.
On information of villagers boycotting polls, Circle Officer of Dhalbhumgarh Block Sameer Kashyap and DCLR of Ghatsila Nitin Suren went to the villagers and tried to convince them. After a lot of persuasion, only Kartik Singh Sardar from Chhaudiya village went to cast his vote at around 12:15 pm.
Officials said they will surely convince villagers to come to the polling station to vote. There are a total of 1069 voters, of which, 522 are men and remaining 547 women.
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