No train, no votes, warn 18 Gujarat villages

Workers stack BJP’s campaign materials onto a truck, in Ahmedabad on Saturday. Pic/AFP

As all political parties in Gujarat are gearing up for the state assembly election next month, the residents of Ancheli and 17 other villages of Navsari constituency have said they won't cast their ballot this time and there is no need for politicians to visit them. The reason: their demand for stopping local trains at Ancheli station has not been met yet.

"Train nahi to vote nahi [no train no votes]. BJP or other political parties should not come for election campaigning. Our demands are not met, so we are boycotting the elections," reads banners put up by the villagers.

"Regular passengers are forced to take private vehicles and they have to spend almost R300 per day," said Hitesh Nayak.

Also read: 12-year-old boy kidnapped for Rs 2 crore ransom from Thane; rescued from Gujarat

Member of the Zonal Railway Users Consultative Committee Chhotubhai Patil said that no authorities concerned are responding to the issue.

"A local passenger train used to stop here since 1966 but it was stopped due to the Covid pandemic. After it restarted, it does not stop here at our station. People from at least 19 villages do up-down from here for their jobs and daily based earnings," said Chhotubhai Patil.

Elections for Gujarat's 182 assembly seats will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5. The counting of votes will take place on December 8, which coincides with Himachal Pradesh's result date. AAP is the new entrant in this election.

2
No. of phases in which Gujarat polls will be held

EC: No exit polls for Himachal for now

The Election Commission of India on Sunday prohibited the conduct of any exit poll and publishing their results from November 12 to December 5, when the Gujarat elections will be over. The polling was held for 68 constituency seats in the hill state on Saturday and it recorded a turnout of 74.54%. Meanwhile, authorities have suspended a polling party after it was found to be transporting electronic voting machines (EVMs) in a private vehicle in Rampur of Shimla district.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever