180 families to boycott rural polls in Tripura

Agartala: About 180 families of two village panchayats in Tripura’s Unakoti district have threatened to boycott the upcoming panchayat elections, citing underdevelopment in their respective areas.
The villagers from ward 1 of Gournagar and wards 6 and 7 of Bhagaban Nagar gram panchayat have been living in poor conditions due to lack of proper infrastructure, particularly the mud roads in their villages.
According to villagers, despite a complaint made to the chief minister’s office a year ago by Birajit Shukla Baidya, no action has been taken to repair the roads. “Despite directions from the chief minister’s office, the roads were not repaired, and the other infrastructure didn’t get any attention for five years,” a villager said.
He expressed their frustration with the repeated assurances given by politicians before every election, only to be forgotten once the votes are cast.
In a separate development, chief minister Manik Saha held a preparatory meeting with BJP party leaders to discuss strategies for the coming three-tier panchayat elections. “Leaders of all frontal organisations of BJP, MLAs, ministers, and members of ADC had a detailed discussion on the strategies to ensure a decisive success in the three-tier panchayat election after a landslide victory in the recently concluded Lok Sabha election,” said party spokesperson Subrata Chakraborty.