the goan I network
CANACONA
In a further setback to election authorities and political parties, voters from Tirval-Poinguinim have also decided to boycott the Lok Sabha poll on Tuesday in solidarity with the
agitating voters from the neighbouring hamlet
of Marlem.
The polling booth at Marlem, which caters to voters of Marlem and Tirval, has a total of 221 voters eligible to vote.
Amid efforts by the Election Commission to ensure that all voters exercise their franchise, the decision of an entire Marlem hamlet in a remote part of Canacona taluka to boycott polls had sent authorities into a tizzy, prompting government officials, election officials and poll icons to rush to Marlem in a bid to pacify the agitated locals.
While Poinguinim Sarpanch Jagdish Gaonkar, who is also local panch of Marlem, insisted that all voters would boycott the polls, election officials led by Chief Electoral Officer Kunal claim they had been successful in persuading the locals to exercise their franchise.
Marlem locals are upset because the only approach muddy pathway, which passes through the Cotigao wildlife sanctuary, is nearly three kilometres from the tarred road at Tirval-Poinguinim.
Upset that their demand for a tarred road had been left unanswered by successive governments for many decades, Marlem
locals decided to boycott all future elections, beginning with the Lok Sabha poll.
Locals from Tirval said they would also boycott the LS poll, in support of the demands of the Marlem locals.
“Though we have road and proper electricity in our areas, we will also join the residents of Marlem and not go to vote to show our solidarity to them in their struggle to have proper road and electricity in their locality as well,” said a resident of Tirval.
