Residents, angry over a variety of reasons, boycotted polling in four areas of Assam’s Silchar Lok Sabha constituency on Friday.
Voting was boycotted in the Rangikhari area of Silchar town; along with the South Mohanpur neighbourhood in Sonai; Durga Nagar Tea Garden and the East Dayapur area of Udharband in Cachar district.
Residents of Chittaranjan Road in the Rangirkhari area of Silchar alleged that they have been suffering from waterlogging problems for a long time. In protest, they boycotted polling. The residents also threatened to hold a road blockade from May 6 onwards and if the situation persists, they will also boycott the vote in the 2026 Assembly polls.
There was an uproar in the town after the news of the vote boycott spread. Leaders from the ruling party and Cachar district administration officials reached the spot to pacify the protesters but the residents were adamant about their decision.
Asit Baran Nag, an old-age resident of the area, said that they have been suffering from the problem of waterlogging for the past 10-12 years.
“Knee-deep water accumulates in the street in a single rain. Many people are suffering from various diseases while trampling this dirty water. We have repeatedly approached the municipality officials, the Water Resources Department and the local MLA on the issue, but nothing was done. Finally, we had no option left but to boycott the polling,” he said.
The area has a total of 120 voters and all of them refrained from exercising their voting rights.
Meanwhile, the residents of Sonai South Mohanpur boycotted voting in protest over the “shifting of the polling station to a distant place”.
Rahim Uddin Barabhuiya and Manjur Hossain, residents of the area said, “Earlier, we used to vote at a nearby school. This time we were shifted to a polling station which is at least 5 km away from our place. There are 800 voters in our neighbourhood.”
Voters of Durga Nagar Tea Garden in Cachar district boycotted the polling process protesting against the poor condition of roads. Also, some voters boycotted polling over a poor communication system.