Haryana village boycotts polling

Khanpur village, four km from Kaithal, on Thursday boycotted the Lok Sabha election in protest against being excluded from Kaithal assembly constituency following delimitation. The village, falling under Kurukshetra Lok Sabha constituency, has been included in Guhla assembly constituency.

The villagers now have to travel a distance of 28 km for various works, Sarpanch Gian Chand told PTI. Chand said for ages the villagers have been going to Kaithal for trade, banking and all other activities.

But now with the village being in Guhla segment, it is causing inconvenience for them, he added. The village decided recently to boycott all the elections till it was re-included in the Kaithal assembly constituency, the Sarpanch said, adding that not a single voter has turned up at the sole polling booth set up for the 1,350 electorate.

Local Deputy Commissioner, Sub Divisional Magistrate and poll officials also visited the village this morning to persuade the residents to vote, but the villagers remained adamant not to vote till their demand is met.

A former sarpanch, Dharampal, said that they had met sitting MP from Kurukshetra Navin Jindal and Kaithal MLA Shamsher Singh Surjewala, but no step was taken in this regard.

First Published: May 07, 2009 17:21 IST