In West Bengal, over 10,000 residents living in high-rise buildings in New Town, adjacent to Kolkata, have decided not to vote in the panchayat elections to be held on July 8. This area comes under Panchayat area. Newtown Forum president Samaresh Das said there are around 16,000 voters under different panchayat areas and most of them are reluctant to exercise their franchise as they do not want to be branded as rural.
Many people were not aware: Township comes under rural bodies
On the other hand, NKDA officials say that many people were not aware that their townships come under rural bodies. He said that the interesting thing is that in the Panchayat elections of 2013 and 2018, this issue did not attract the attention of the people. At the same time, Sameer Gupta, secretary of the Newtown Citizens’ Welfare Organisation, said that there was anger among the residents from the beginning regarding this issue, but now most of the people have decided to vote in the panchayat elections. Gupta said, it is hard to believe that residents of such areas are part of panchayat areas. We felt that the elected representatives could be of some help in solving the civic problems.
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Campaign continues to boycott Panchayat elections
Mr Das further said, we have already collected signatures of 12,000 voters who have decided not to exercise their franchise apart from demanding that the township be taken out of the panchayat jurisdiction. He said that the Forum is campaigning for the boycott of Panchayat elections by the township residents. Although the township is in the panchayat area, all civic amenities are provided by the ‘New Town Kolkata Development Authority’ (NKDA). He pointed out that although, we pay more civic tax than those living in Kolkata Municipal Corporation areas, yet the township is in the panchayat area. This is an anomaly.
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