Chennai: Voting percentage in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections was overall quite enthusiastic. In the 102 constituencies which went to polls across 21 states and UTs on Friday, the overall turnout was 62%
However, at least a dozen villages in Tamil Nadu boycotted the elections.
In Kanchipuram district’s Ekanapuram, most of the residents did not turn up to vote.
The reason?
They wanted to show their protest against the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government.
They have been protesting for well over a year a half against the state’s proposal to build a second airport in Parandur.
“Out of the 1,400 votes in Ekanapuram, only 21 people – who are government staff – voted. No resident and no farmer voted in this election,” said RL Elango, who is leading the protests.
“The government has turned a deaf ear to our concerns for more than 600 days. Soon after election dates were announced, we decided to boycott the polls. Even the 18 people (senior citizens and people with disabilities) who had chosen postal ballot refused to vote,” he claimed.
The MK Stalin-headed DMK government plans to build a greenfield airport in Parandur in addition to the existing Chennai international airport. To go ahead with the project, land will have to be acquired from Ekanapuram and its surrounding villages.
The state government had announced it will provide a compensation amounting to 3.5 times the market rate, besides providing an alternate land for housing and a government job for one member of the families affected by land acquisition.
The villagers, however, have opposed the plan as they feel their agricultural lands will be taken away, while environmentalists have expressed concerns of disrupting the waterbodies.
More than 60 Dalit families residing in Vengaivayal village of Pudukottai district refused to vote and put up black flags atop their houses.
They are angry that police have not identified culprits who mixed human faces in an overhead tank – which supplies water to a locality where only Dalits live – way back in December 2022.
Four villages under Muthanai village panchayat in Cuddalore district also boycotted Friday’s elections over lack of basic facilities like drinking water, bitumen roads and transport facilities.
People living in Puthiya Nambiyar village in Nagapattinam protested over the authorities’ delay in solving their water problems by not casting their votes.
Around 500 Dalit families in Tiruvannamalai district’s Mothakkal village did not turn up to vote because of lack of basic amenities.
Residents of Kumararajipettai village in Tiruvallur district shun the polls to display their anger over a government project due to which two temples had to be demolished.
Despite efforts made by election officials and police to persuade them to vote, the electors were firm in their decision.
