Voters in Mahadevanagar, which is about 7 km from Nanjangud town, protested against the absence of a polling booth in their village and threatened to boycott the elections on Sunday.
However, they changed their minds in the afternoon and cast their votes in the nearby Veeradevanapura village.
The residents of Mahadevanagar have resolved to boycott the future elections till the authorities do not establish a booth in their village and provide them with various basic amenities. They said there were more than 650 voters in the village, who were forced to trek to Veeradevanapura to votes.
The residents, who congregated on Sunday morning, said their village had been neglected by the authorities for decades. Khateeb Ahmed, a resident, said Mahadevanagar neither has a Primary Health Centre nor a fair price shop. The residents have to go to Golur, a few kms away for their ration every month.
Another resident, Srinivas, said they had to go all the way to Nanjangud town to bury their dead. “There is no burial ground or crematorium here,” he lamented.
Though the village has an anganwadi and a primary school, these are not functioning properly owing to the absence of staff, Mr. Ahmed added.
Most of the residents in the village are poor labourers, who earn wages by working in nearby Nanjangud, and live in huts with thatched roofs. “Though the government has been promising us Ashraya sites and houses, only 155 have been sanctioned houses against the 672 applicants,” Khizer Ahmed, another resident, claimed.
