How the EC obstructs Kaimur hill people from voting!

Sasaram: Imagine walking some 25 kilometres to vote, and carrying enough food to last you three days? Well, would you take the trouble to vote if your polling booth was 12 to 25 kilometres away?

The Election Commission of India, on the recommendations of Rohtas district administration, has allowed shifting of 12 booths supposed to be set up in the hiils of Chenari and Sasaram assembly segments to the plains! Why? Because the district administration doesn’t want to ‘risk’ violence.

Curious, isn’t it? Given the fact tha in the 2014 parliamentary election, not a single case of violence and rigging was reported in Sasaram parliamentary constituency. Also, according to police records, the hilly area did not witness a single Maoist operation during the last three years.

So why set up booths so far away? About 12,000 voters, a majority of them dalits and tribals, of Kaimur hills, may not be able to turn up at polling stations on October 16 as like previous elections, their booths have been shifted to plains for security reasons. These booths are 12-25 kms from the voters’ homes and it takes two or three days to go to polling booths and return. In the 2014 parliamentary elections, only 100 voters out of 12,000 cast their votes.

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Shiv Narayan Oraon, mukhiya of Pipardih panchayat under the Nauhatta block in Kaimur hills, lamented that despite their requests to officials, their four booths have been shifted to plains.

“Voters have to negotiate 12km to 25km of Kaimur hill stretch to reach their polling booth. For us, this is a punishing task in every election, said Sita Ram Yadav of Rehal village. His father, aged 70, said, “How can I walk eight kilometres of hilly stretch to reach the polling station?”

“Voting robs daily wage earners of three days’ wages,” rued Krishna Singh Yadav, former mukhiya of Rohtasgarh panchayat. He said voters will have to walk 20 to 25km to reach polling stations as there is no motorable road. They have to reach the polling station a day before the polling day and return to their village on the next. So, they carry three days’ food along with them when they go to vote. The last time, they had boycotted the election and each booth recorded only one or two votes. Rajawati Oraon, who is over eighty years old, said he wanted to vote but his health did not permit him to walk 12km to the polling station.

So, do these citizens of India matter at all? Apparently not. No candidate has visited the hilly villages this election. “As there is no road, visiting the hilly villages will take three or four days for a candidate,” said a voter.