Himachal's Chamba's Villagers boycott 2024 Lok Sabha elections

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The people living in the villages of Makhan, Chachul, and Juri in the Churah subdivision of the Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh boycotted the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday because they wanted a road connecting to their villages.

Residents of Juri in Charda Gram Panchayat and the twin isolated villages of Makhan and Chachul under Sanval Gram Panchayat said that they would not cast their votes until the district government listened to their complaints, reported PTI,

"We will not vote until the district administration comes here and listens to our grievances," Ravi, a local, stated. The people further claimed that nothing has changed despite the authorities being made aware of the problems.

"We are still waiting for internet connectivity, road and electricity and the situation is so pathetic that if someone falls ill, we have to carry the patients on foot for 4-5 km to reach the health centre and several people have died as they could not get treatment on time," Mukesh Kumar, who lives in the village of Makhan, told PTI via telephone.

Kumar added, "We have decided not to vote as our demands have gone unheard," and that many students left school during the lockdown because of the Covid epidemic and that there is no internet connectivity, making it impossible for them to study.

According to reports, men and women from the community flocked to polling booth No. 25 in Makhan village in large numbers, but they refused to cast their votes.

Even after 76 years of independence, according to Kumar, our community still lacks basic infrastructure like roads. About 900 voters are present in the booth serving the two communities, he continued.

"In addition to basic amenities, we demand that the government school buildings be fixed and that teachers be assigned to these institutions. There is just one instructor for every 100 pupils right now," he lamented.

In the event that their demands are not met, the locals of Makhan threatened to launch another agitation.

The people of Juri claimed in a now-viral video that they live on a hilltop with sources of water nearby and that it takes them around 10 km to walk to the closest health facility. They lamented the fact that despite being approved in 2006, a connection road between Charda and Juri has not yet been built.

Similarly, the Juri villager reported that they had also chosen to abstain from voting in the previous election, despite the fact that they had voted based on promises from representatives that the construction of the road would be started in 10 days. However, the promises by the officials are yet to be fulfilled and the infrastructure is yet to be built.