710 votes 0 Cast! Political conspiracy behind shift of centre allege voters of a GP in Sonai, boycott poll

Sonai Legislative Assembly’s Swadhin Bazar GP is witnessing a significant vote boycott. 710 voters of the GP’s Group Three area have decided to boycott their vote.

Their allegation is that a centre at their locality where they have been casting their votes for decades has been shifted. According to them, a political conspiracy has resulted in the shifting of the centre.

“We do not want to boycott votes. We want to cast our votes. Our demand is to let us cast our votes at Swadhin Bazar High School where we have been casting our votes for years. Or, there are two other schools in our village, either could have been made our centre. Instead, we are forced to go 4.5 kilometres away in a sensitive zone, this is why, we haven’t cast a single vote so far,” said a resident of the village.

The new centre for these voters is around four kilometres away, 867 Borobauri LP School in Dakhshin Mohanpur Part VII area. Astonishingly, the voters in the residence next to the school much like the entire neighbourhood are casting their votes in Swadhin Bazar High School. So, when the locals of this village aren’t casting their votes in 867 Borobauri LP School, why should the people staying four kilometres away travel and caste their votes? Questioned the residents of Swadhin Bazar GP’s group three area.

The presiding officer of the polling station informed that the centre was ready as per the guidelines at 7:00 am and so far, not a single vote has been cast. “We have already informed the authorities about the fact that not a single voter has turned up to cast the vote. As per protocol, several officials have visited the centre and everyone is aware about the zero turnout,” added the presiding officer while speaking with the press.

Maria Tanim, Circle Officer, Sonai visited the spot and interacted with the voters. “We are grateful to her for her visit. We assured all types of cooperation. We just want the centre to be brought to our village as we don’t feel it is secure for us to travel to that centre and cast our votes,” asserted another local.