Sidhi: The first phase of the Madhya Pradesh Lok Sabha elections began with the Chhindwara, Jabalpur, Balaghat, Mandla, Sidhi, and Shadold districts voting at 7 am. While some residents of Sidhi and Shahdol, staying in villages without bridges, have resorted to a total election boycott to call for bridge building as their main demand. The deception of the authorities on the issue of bridging in spite of the regular visits of councilors to the village offices was reason enough for villagers not to refrain from voting this time.
In Shahdol district, residents of the Gram Panchayat Godin Booda in Janpad Panchayat Budhar have boycotted voting, with only five votes cast in Polling Booth No. 64. So far, no official from the district administration has arrived at the scene.
Next village, Budhar Janpad, Shahdol district Gram Panchayat Khamhidal, stays the same; people boycott voting just because there is no road, so there is no ‘vote.’ Furthermore, the major voting at the Gram Panchayat level is Khamhidal Booth No. 77 of them have announced such a decision.
While on the other hand, in the Sidhi-based region of Madhya Pradesh, the voting system is on hold because of communication and water problems. A voter turnout of zero from 7 am to 9 am during Phase 1 raised real questions about the willingness of residents to exercise their democratic right to pick the candidate of their choice.
The issue pertains to the polling center located 70 kilometers away from the district headquarters in Medara village. Administrative officials have been barred from conducting voting among the villagers in the Kusumi tribal region.
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