Greater Faridabad residents drop poll boycott decision

Bijendra Ahlawat

Faridabad, May 25

A majority of the 8,000 residents in Greater Faridabad, who had announced that they would boycott the voting, changed their mind and reached the booths to exercise their franchise on Saturday.

Elections give people a chance to give their verdict against governance. Through voting, electorate evaluate the work done by public representatives. — Pankaj Goel, vice-president, RWA, Sector 75

Talking about the reason for changing the decision at the eleventh hour, Sumer Khatri, a resident, said representatives of the various Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) had decided to take part in the polling with an aim to teach a lesson to those who have ignored their grievances for the past many years.

He said residents are not getting proper civic amenities and they are being forced to pay for these. “When elected representatives and the authorities were failed to resolve the issues, residents of several blocks in Sectors 75 to 89 had launched an agitation and decided to boycott the elections,” Khatri said.

Abhishek Srivastava, general secretary, RWA, Sector 76, said a large number of residents, who were in a mood to boycott the elections, decided to cast their vote as this was perhaps an option to reject those who were not concerned about their issues.

Mahaveer Bamla, president of the RWA, Block G, Sector 89, said boycotting the voting may have benefitted those who are in power. He said residents decided to come out of their houses to vote against those who did not work to provide basic amenities to them.

RS Garg, general secretary, BPTP Villas, Sector 88, said as the residents had both options of holding an agitation and casting vote in the elections, boycotting the voting may not have helped solve their problems.

Expressing the same views, Pankaj Goel, vice-president, RWA, Block-Q in Sector 75, said the residents have done what the RWAs had decided.

He said their issues had forced hundreds of residents to agitate and express their resentment. “Elections give people a chance to give their verdict against governance. Through voting, electorate evaluate the work done by public representatives,” he added

After their issues were not addressed, banners and posters announcing the decision to boycott the poll had come up in some residential sectors in Greater Faridabad.