TN Local Body Polls: Upper Caste Hindus In Tenkasi Dist Warn Of Poll Boycott As Booth Shifted To SC Area

The district administration officials to hold peace talk with upper caste Hindu leaders and convince them to vote in the local body polls

Chennai: Amidst political parties gearing up for tough fight for the local body polls in Tamil Nadu, Upper caste Hindus warn of boycotting the rural local body polls in the valasai village of Kambaneri panchayat in Tenkasi district. The district administration officials to hold a meeting with upper caste Hindu leaders.

The reason for the boycott was the administration shifting the polling station to a Scheduled Caste (SC) dominated area. The rural local body polls are to be held on October 6. Upper caste Hindus, SC's and Muslims live in this panchayat, and except for the upper caste Hindu's the rest don't have a problem in shifting the booth.

The new booth is situated at the Government Adi Dravidar Welfare High school, which is just 200m from the previous booth in the Valasai village. Kandayanur Block Development Officer (BDO) Kanthaswamy said, "We will be holding peace talks with the upper caste Hindus immediately and will convince them to come and vote in the new booth."

The BDO also said that the new booth is more spacious and has toilet facilities and proper ventilation and lighting and hence more comfortable to the polling officers and the voters.

A leader of the upper caste Hindus who have decided to boycott the rural local body elections said, "We will boycott the elections and return all the government documents to the officials. There seems to be political pressure to shift the polling station which was being traditionally used in this area. There was no need to shift the booth in a predominantly SC dominated area. Something fishy is there and hence we are boycotting."

However, the BDO and other officials hoped that the community would come around and participate in the elections. However, the BDO said, "We are using all the channels to bring them back to the polling stations. There are no issues and the booth has been shifted just for the comfort in voting and nothing else."

Tenkasi district collector was not available for comment.

(With inputs from IANS)