Gujarat Polls: People In Mini African Village Celebrate Their First Special Tribal Polling Booth — Watch

Gujarat Election 2022: People in Jambur will get to vote in their own special tribal booth for the first time. 89 seats go to polls today.

People of Gujarat's mini African village - Jambur, celebrated their first opportunity to vote in their own special tribal booth

Source : ANI

New Delhi: Jambur, India's mini African village, will vote in its special tribal booth for the first time in the first phase of the Gujarat Election on Thursday. Voting for the first phase of the Gujarat Assembly election will take place in 89 out of the 182 seats spread across 18 districts today. The remaining seats will go to polls in the second phase on December 5.

People of this mini-African village were seen celebrating their first opportunity to vote in their own special tribal booth.

#Watch | People of Gujarat's mini African village- Jambur, celebrated their first opportunity to vote in their own special tribal booth (30.11)#GujaratElections pic.twitter.com/LFrG6q8ukT

— ANI (@ANI) December 1, 2022

Rahman, a senior citizen of Jambur village, expressed his happiness saying, "It is a matter of great pleasure for us that the Election Commission has decided to make a special booth for us to vote. We have been living in this village for years. But this is happening for the first time which makes us very happy."

"Our forefathers are from Africa and we came to India many years ago. When the fort was being built in Junagadh, our forefathers came here for work, First, we settled in Ratanpur village and then gradually settled in Jaanwar village. We have got the status of Siddhi tribal community," Rahman said, as quoted by news agency ANI.

He further mentioned that despite the fact that the people in this village follow the tradition of India and Gujarat even as their ancestors are from Africa. Abdul Maguj Bhai, who contested as an independent from Talala, said that the local community suffers in the area.

"The village is situated in the middle of two rivers. Everyone lives together here. I am contesting elections from here for the third time. We want that we should also go to the assembly. We get rights so that we can do more good work. We are called Africa of India. We are known as Siddhi tribal community. The government keeps on giving help to the tribals, there is no problem in that, but our local community suffers here, we do not get that much of facilities," Abdul Maguj Bhai told ANI.

"We have talked to the government regarding the problems of the locals and have also given it in writing, but our community becomes a tribe here and everyone follows their own path, that's why there is a problem. They defame the government without any reason," he further said.

Maguj Bhai mentioned that farming is the main occupation of the community. "Apart from farming, the people of our community perform local Jus Siddhi tribal dance. The programs are performed at various places, wherever tourists come. This is also our source of income," he added.

The voting begins at 8 am and will conclude at 5 pm. A total of 39 political parties are contesting in the elections and have fielded 788 candidates including 718 male candidates and 70 women candidates. As many as 2,39,76,670 voters, including 1,24,33,362 males, 1,1,5,42,811 females, and 497 from the third gender are eligible to vote in the first phase.

Over 4 lakh PWD voters are eligible to cast their votes. Nearly 9.8 lakh senior citizen voters (80+) and nearly 10,000 voters who are 100 and above are eligible to vote.

(With Agency Inputs)