UP Elections: Residents of Etah village, Urban Locality Threaten to Boycott Polls Over Bad Roads

Etah: Furious over the condition of roads, residents of a village and an urban locality in Uttar Pradesh's Etah Sadar constituency have warned of boycotting next month's Assembly elections, with officials asserting that they will resolve their problems.

The Etah Sadar seat is represented by ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s Vipin Verma David and he has been again fielded by the party. Polling for the seat will be held on February 20 in the third of the seven phase elections.

Residents of Kulla Habibpur village, which has a population of 1,000, staged a protest on Friday and raised slogans, such as "road nahin toh vote nahin (no road no vote)".

When it rains, roads are flooded and it causes much difficulty for villagers to carry out with their daily activities, Parmod Kumar, a resident, told reporters.

Moreover, with large potholes, several people have met with accidents, he said, adding that residents have complained to officials and public representatives several times but to no avail.

Either the village will boycott the polls or vote for the candidate who gets it repaired, Kumar said.

At the Etah district headquarters, residents of Kanshi Ram colony complained about waterlogging on roads and announced that they will boycott the polls if their problem is not resolved

They also held a protest with a banner announcing their decision.

 Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Sadar, Shiv Kumar Singh said residents of Kashi Ram Colony had staged a protest over the problem of waterlogging and are also talking about boycotting the election.

"I have sent the tehsildar to look into their problem which will be resolved soon," the SDM said, adding that he has also come to know about the grievance of residents of Kulla Habibpur village today.

"The tehsildar and I will get the matter investigated and will resolve the problem," he added.