MYSURU: Tension prevailed at Indiganatha village in Male Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary on Friday when people set fire to electronic voting machines (EVMs) in a polling booth there and attacked election officials for “forcing” them to exercise their franchise.
The agitators had decided to boycott polling in protest against lack of basic amenities such as drinking water, roads and electricity in their village. They alleged that local officials did nothing though they had submitted several memorandums to them seeking amenities. They had to walk miles to bring drinking water. They decided to boycott polling this time when officials imposed restrictions on their movement inside the forest. Because of the restrictions, they could not even bring drinking water to their houses, they said. There are 170 houses at Indiganatha.
When people of the village did not visit the booth till 2pm, police and revenue officials contacted the voters at Mendara village near Indiganatha. They managed to bring 14 voters from Mendara to the polling booth to exercise their franchise.
Enraged by this, people of Indiganatha took the officials to task. An argument broke out and soon people of the village started throwing stones at the officials. The police resorted to a lathicharge when some election officials, including tahsildar YK Guruprasad and inspector Jagadish, were injured in stone throwing. The agitators also destroyed the EVMs, furniture, gate and the compound wall of the booth. The injured officers were treated at a hospital in MM Hills.
Assistant returning officer Mallikarjuna filed a complaint with MM Hills police, accusing the villagers, including some women, of attacking them and preventing them from doing their poll duty.
Guru Prasad said that they had gone to the village to convince voters to take part in polling. He said that it was a pre-planned attack by the villagers.
Meanwhile, Soligara Abhivrudhi Sangha president Muthaiah accused the people of Indiganatha village of attacking Soligas of Mendara village who went to the polling booth along with the officials to exercise their franchise. He said the sangha will stage a protest in MM Hills seeking action against those who had assaulted the Soligas.
Chamarajanagar SP Padmini Sahoo visited Indiganatha village.