Village of 900 in UP boycotts polls

Etah, Feb 23 (ANI): Residents of a village in Uttar Pradesh's Etah District on Thursday boycotted assembly polls in protest against the failure of state government and civic authorities to develop the area and poor electricity supply and infrastructure.

Around 900 villagers on Thursday threatened to boycott the polls as they expressed their anger over the failure of the administration to address their woes.

"Today when the voting is in progress, there is no electricity and the farmers are facing lot of problem because of this. There is connectivity problem also as the roads are not constructed properly. When no development is taking place in the area, what is the use of casting our vote? When we are not getting any benefit why should we vote? This is the reason we have planned to boycott the elections and nobody will go to cast their vote today," said Kamlesh Kumar, a villager.

Radheshyam, another villager, also complained that leaders visit the village and make false promises during polls but the ground reality is that they do not work towards the welfare of the villagers.

"Leaders come and go and make promises but in reality do not work for the welfare for the villagers, then why should we cast our vote?" said Radheshyam.

The polling booth officials confirmed that although all preparations were made for voting to take place, none of the villagers turned up to vote.

"Since morning, no one has turned up to cast their vote. They said that they will not cast their vote. Till now no one has come," said Santosh Kumar, a polling official.

The assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh are being viewed as an opportunity for India's major parties to re-establish or strengthen their foothold in the country's fifth largest and most populous state.

Elections to the 403 legislative assemblies in Uttar Pradesh are being held in seven phases.

Polling in Uttar Pradesh began on February 8 and it would conclude on March 3.

Results would be declared on March 6. (ANI)