An entire village in Rahul Gandhi’s constituency boycotted UP polls

Tired of false promises made by politicians, an entire village named Parsauli in Amethi resorted to protest when the constituency went to polls. The entire village boycotted the assembly elections, and all attempts, be it by the district magistrate or Rani Garima Sinh and Rani Ameeta Sinh to pacify them went in vain.

There are 649 registered voters in Parsauli and a population of over 2,000.

"Every time, politicians seek votes in the name of development and promise to build roads, provide water and get toilets constructed but once they win, they never turn to this village,'' an agitated Ved Prakash Mishra, 47, a driver in Sanjay Gandhi hospital, told ET.

The issues like bad condition of roads and lack of basic necessities made them do this.

"There is not a single toilet in the village. Because of bad roads, children are unable to go to school and accidents are common,” Hriday Ram, 25, pursuing bachelors from a college affiliated to Faizabad University told ET.

Running from pillar to post to get a proper road constructed, the villagers on January 14 decided unanimously to boycott polls. At the entrance of the village, they had put up two huge banners calling for the boycott.

"The roads in this village were last constructed 30 years back by none other than Sanjay Gandhi. In fact, Rahul Gandhi visited the village in 2004 and walked in knee-deep water. He assured us all help but nothing changed,'' Bihari Lal Yadav, 35, who runs a mobile shop said.

thalking about the issues they are facing, 45-year-old Phoolwati said, "Why cast vote when we are left to suffer? If we boycott, it is not our loss, it is the loss of politicians who come begging for votes at the time of elections. They must realize this.''