The residents’ forums in New Town will soon initiate a campaign urging the people to boycott Panchayat polls as they believe that New Town with all modern civic amenities should not be under a Panchayat.
“NKDA provides all municipal services for residents of New Town. So, what benefit will we get by electing a Panchayat member? This will be our basic question to the candidates who will come and seek votes from us.We will urge the people for mass boycott as casting of votes will be an exercise in futility. We will soon take out a rally with an appeal of boycotting the polls and will also put up banners urging people to stay away from the voting process,” Samaresh Das, of New Town Forum and News (NTFN), a resident organisation in New Town said. Das, however, made it clear that nobody will be prevented from voting as it is a constitutional right and there is also an option to cast a vote in NOTA. Eight seats with 12 booths, covering a large area of New Town Action Area IA, IB, IC, ID, IIB, IIE and pockets of Action Area III are included in Jyangra Hatiara II Gram Panchayat with around 1,5000 voters. Firhad Hakim as well as state Panchayats and Rural Development minister Pradip Mazumder had given assurances that New Town will be excluded from Panchayat.