Three villages boycott panchayat polls

The residents of Chabri and Bhidtana villages in Jind district refrained from voting as their long-pending demand of connectivity to the highway that passes through their fields has not been met

: The voters of two villages in Jind district and one in Mahendragarh on Sunday boycotted the zila parishad and block samiti polls.

Three villages boycott panchayat polls

The residents of Chabri and Bhidtana villages in Jind district refrained from voting as their long-pending demand of connectivity to the highway that passes through their fields has not been met.

The polling officials reached the two villages at 7 am and waited till 6 pm, but no voters came to cast their vote.

Villagers reached the government schools, where booths were set up for voting and offered tea, snacks and food to the personnel deputed for polling.

Nandkishor, a presiding officer deputed at Chabri village, said no one came to vote.

Jind DC Manoj Kumar stated that the law and order situation was under control in the district and no untoward incident took place.

Around 68% voters turned out in Jind district till 6 pm for voting for 25 wards of zila parishad and 187 of block samitis.

Residents of nearly 25 villages in Jind have been protesting for around two months near Chabri village seeking exit and entry point on green field express highway 352 A. The newly constructed national highway 352 A, a stretch of around 70km between Jind and Sonepat district passes from the fields of farmers in these villages. Farmers have alleged that despite their fields situated on both sides of the highway, authorities have not given them a way to cross the road to reach the fields.

Mahendragarh village boycott polling

Residents of Khatodara village in Mahendragarh village boycotted the polling for zila Parishad and panchayat samiti in protest after a candidate, Harpal alias Babli, contesting for the post of sarpanch reportedly went ‘missing’ on Saturday night.

They also staged dharna in the village to mount pressure on the police to trace him.

Mahendragarh superintendent of police (SP) Vikrant Bhushan visited the village this morning and tried to pacify them, but the protesters could not be persuaded to participate in the polling.

“We got information that Harpal went towards Narnaul from Mahendragarh in his car last night but did not return. A special police team was formed to launch a hunt after booking a case. During investigation, Harpal’s car was recovered from Sihara village where his relatives reside. Further investigation is underway,” the SP said.