Bihar Elections 2020: These 3 Villages Chose To Boycott Voting Over Unfulfilled Poll Promises

The villagers claimed that no legislator ever bothered about the inconveniences faced by people of these villages due to the poor infrastructure, such as a road or a bridge.

(Image: PTI)

Patna: Protesting against poor infrastructure development in the area, three villages across different Assembly segments boycotted to vote during the first phase of Bihar elections on Wednesday. Kosiyar village in Tarari Assembly constituency, Govindpur village in Shahpur Assembly, and Badka Bigha village in Rafiganj Assembly constituency witnessed negligible votes throughout the day as villagers called for a boycott of polls in protest against unfulfilled poll promises. The villagers claimed that no legislator ever bothered about the inconveniences faced by people of these villages due to the poor infrastructure, such as a road or a bridge. The residents of Kosiyar village said that they have been asking the administration to build a bridge over the local ahar-pyne for a long time. They said that every time there is an election, the leaders promise that they will build a bridge but no one even comes back to the village after the polls are over. Until their demand is fulfilled the villagers said that they won’t cast another vote. Kosiyar village has a population of around 4,000. There are four polling booths 238A, 238B, and 239A, 239B. No voter had exercised their right to vote by afternoon. The same thing happened at polling booth number 48 in the Govindpur village in the Shahpur Assembly segment, as the villagers chose to stay away the polling station remained deserted. The villager claimed that they did not participate in elections as no candidate or an officer had ever come to their village to see the condition of the road. None of the 700 residents of the village chose to cast their votes. Meanwhile, Rafiganj Assembly constituency's booth number 321, located in Badka Bigha village of Ghatrine gram panchayat, registered negligible votes throughout the day as the villagers boycotted polling. The locals claimed that despite repeated pre-poll assurances no legislator has ever fulfilled their promise of connecting the village with the main road. At all these polling booths, the presiding officers tried to convince the villagers to practice their franchise but they refused. The first phase of Bihar State assembly elections took place on October, 28. In which as many as 1066 candidates contested over 71 seats of 16 districts across the state. With the voter turnout standing at over 53 per cent.