Post Date: Post Date – 07:45 PM, Monday – November 7th
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Hyderabad: On the flip side of the BJP’s much-hyped twin-engine governance, some villages in Gujarat have decided to boycott the upcoming elections to meet their demands, including basic amenities, drinking water, roads and even crop insurance.
Joining the list of villages that have boycotted elections in the past, Ahmedabad’s Nanakiloda has decided to boycott parliamentary elections in protest of the indifference of the Gujarat government. To this end, villagers also put up posters and banners on the streets, according to reports. Two years ago, Nana Chiloda was a village and merged with the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation.
However, local media reported that residents still demanded adequate drinking water, school buildings and drainage infrastructure, but the municipal corporation did not respond to those demands. Interestingly, local leaders acknowledged the inconvenience caused by the delays in the works. Annoyed by the official indifference, the villagers decided to boycott the parliamentary elections.
This is not an isolated case. Villages boycotting elections, including local bodies, assemblies and even assemblies, have been a regular feature of BJP-ruled Gujarat. During the 2017 parliamentary elections, the village of Gajadi in the Morbi district boycotted the first stage of voting, citing a persistent water shortage in the village. Likewise, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, two villages – Bhangor in Jamnagar district and Davdahad in Dang district – boycotted the elections for different reasons.
Villagers in Bangor, unhappy with unpaid crop insurance and land-mapping discrepancies, did not vote. Davdahad villagers boycotted a poll calling for roads to be built in the village. In the village of Nanda in the Kutch district, only votes were registered, according to reports.
With the Election Commission of India announcing parliamentary elections in Gujarat, it will be interesting to see how many villages will boycott the elections this time and what are the demands.
All of this comes as Telangana gets development activities, sanitation and provision of basic amenities including drinking water in rural and urban areas as announced by the BJP-led union government. This year, Telangana was ranked first in the Swachh Survekshan Grameen Ranking in the large state category of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM-G). The state also received 12 awards, with Nizamabad and Bhadradri Kothagudem districts taking first and second places respectively in the overall top district category in the Southern District.
Apart from this, 16 cities were awarded at Swachh Survekshan 2022, and three other city local bodies, including Alampur City, Peerzadiguda Municipal Corporation and Korutla City, were awarded under the Indian Swachhata Alliance (ISL).
The state’s flagship Mission Bhagiratha has also been lauded at the national level, and its successful goal of ensuring drinking water for all households has also won a national award.
