Unhappy with delimitation, Kaithal villagers boycott polling

Voters of Kakaut village in the district boycotted the polling on Thursday in protest against the inclusion of their village in Kalayat assembly constituency in the delimitation. They are demanding that they be included in the Kaithal consitutency.

Voters of Kakaut village in the district boycotted the polling on Thursday in protest against the inclusion of their village in Kalayat assembly constituency in the delimitation. They are demanding that they be included in the Kaithal consitutency.

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Only 16 of the 3,600 voters in the village exercised their franchise soon after the polling started in the morning, but they had to face the ire of the co-villagers. The angry villagers bunt the effigy of a former sarpanch who had cast his vote.

The efforts of the district administration to persuade the villagers to jin the polling process failed to bear fruits. Some political leaders too unsuccessfully tried their best to woo the villagers.

While talking to this correspondent, Raju, a former panch of the village panchayat, said, "Kalayat is located about 45 km away from our village, while Kaithal was only about 12 km away. So, our village deserves to be a part of Kaithal assembly constituency."

Distric election officer-cum-deputy commissioner NK Solanki, who visited the village, along with SP Kuldeep Yadav, in the morning tried hard to convince the villagers to exercise their franchise but failed in their efforts. Solanki gave a verbal assurance that their demands would be accepted, but villagers wanted it in black and white.

Congress candidate from Kurukshetra Lok Sabha seat Naveen Jindal reached the village at around 2 pm, but he was booed away. Leaders of some other parties too had to face the same.