No train, no votes: 18 villages at Navsari call for boycotting of assembly poll

As all the political parties in Gujarat are gearing up for the state assembly election that is scheduled in the next month, the residents of Ancheli and 17 other villages of Navsari assembly constituency have hung banners to boycott the polls and ban political leaders, including from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from entering the villages for campaigns.
The reason they have decided to boycott the election is that their demand for stopping local trains at the Ancheli railway station has not been met yet.
The banners near the Ancheli Railway station and in the areas of the villages say, “Train nahi to vote nahi (no train no votes). BJP or other political parties should not come for election campaigns. Our demands are not met, so we are boycotting the elections.”
“Here in the constituency people of at least 18 villages have boycotted this election. Their demand is for the stoppages of the train that used to stop here before Covid 19. People are facing issues as the ones who are regular passengers, they are forced to take private vehicles now and they have to spend almost 300 rs per day,” Hitesh Nayak, an adult said while talking to ANI.
A college student Prachi Patel said that she was facing problems in her study due to the issue as she had to leave one of her lectures in the morning.
Member of the Zonal Railway Users Consultative Committee (ZRUCC) Chhotubhai Patil said that no concerned people are responding to the issue.
“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 here at our station. People from at least 19 villages do up-down from here for their jobs and daily based earnings,” said Chhotubhai Patil.
“They are facing issues. We are not demanding the new one. We just want the same train, but still, the local administrators or representatives are not responding,” he further said.
Chhotubhai Patil said that the villagers have decided to send the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) with no vote.
“We have decided to boycott this assembly election and we will send the EVM 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, which coincides with Himachal Pradesh’s result date. BJP is in power in the state for the last 27 years and is considered as BJP bastion.
However, the Congress is also hoping to put its best electoral foot forward to unseat the BJP government.