Pansemal (Madhya Pradesh): Voting for the first phase of three-tier Panchayat polls began on Saturday. In the first phase, voting is to be held in 39 Gram Panchayats under the Pansemal block of Barwani district. A total of 1,02,902 registered voters will exercise their franchise across 187 polling stations in the block.
In what is being seen as an extreme step to register protest against administrative apathy, voters in Mendrana village have refused to exercise their franchise as a mark protest against the lack of infrastructure development in the area.
Voting which began at 7 am witnessed only four votes till noon. Locals in all villages claimed that no officer has ever bothered about the inconveniences faced by them due to the poor infrastructure, such as a road or poor drainage.
Every time there is an election, the leaders approach and make big promises but no one ever comes back to the village after the polls are over. The villagers said that they will not cast another vote till their demand is fulfilled.
On the other hand, administrative officials were seen appealing to voters to cast their votes. Tehsildar Rakesh Sastiya told that there are 700 registered voters in the village but only four turned out so far.
Secretary Pandharinath Patil said that development works such as drainage, and water tanks have been done in Mendrana village. The Panchayat election results for the post of Panch and Sarpanch will be officially declared on July 14. Notably, the counting of votes will take place at the polling station itself immediately after voting is over.
Villagers claimed that no voter from the village cast their votes and those four people who cast their votes are either Anganwadi workers or government employees and they are bound to do this.
The largest gram panchayat under Pansemal block is Jalgon which is also voting in the first phase of the election. All the three candidates are warming up for a tight contest for District panchayat membership.
