The villages have threatened to boycott elections if their demands are not met. (Representational)
Ahead of Assembly elections in Gujarat, the residents of Ancheli and 17 other villages of Navsari Assembly constituency have hung banners to boycott the polls and ban political leaders from entering the villages to campaign.
The villages have decided to boycott the election until their demand for stopping local trains at the Ancheli railway station is not met.
The banners near the Ancheli Railway station and in the areas of the villages say, "Train nahi to vote nahi (no train, no votes). The BJP or other political parties should not come here for election campaigns. Till our demands are not met, we are boycotting the elections."
"People of at least 18 villages have boycotted this election. They demand the train stop at the local station like it used to before the pandemic. Regular passengers are forced to take private vehicles and spend almost Rs 300 per day to catch the train," Hitesh Nayak, a resident told ANI.
A college student Prachi Patel said that she was facing problems getting to her lectures in the morning.
Member of the Zonal Railway Users Consultative Committee (ZRUCC) Chhotubhai Patil said that no officials have responded to the issues. "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 at our station. People from at least 19 villages use that train to go to and from their jobs," said Chhotubhai Patil.
"They are facing issues. We are not demanding a new train or sttaion. We just want the same train to stop at this station, but still, the local administrators are not responding to our requests," he said.
Chhotubhai Patil said that the villagers have decided to send the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) with no votes till their demand is met. "We have decided to boycott this Assembly election and we will send the EVMs back all empty," he added.
The elections will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5. The counting of votes will take place on December 8.