Villagers boycott TN assembly election

DHARMAPURI: Residents of K Eechampadi village in Dharmapuri district on Thursday boycotted the Tamil Nadu assembly election to protest what they called the refusal of the authorities to relocate a school to a new building. The village has 956 registered voters, and all of them boycotted the election.The villagers have been demanding the relocation of the govt higher secondary school to a new facility, constructed with community funds and equipped with classrooms, kitchen and toilets. Despite repeated petitions, the govt declined permission to relocate the school, prompting villagers to announce in March that they would boycott the elections if their demand was not met.Officials including the RDO Gayathri, chief education officer Jothichandra and DSP Satheeshkumar had earlier held peace talks, urging villagers to withdraw their protest, but no agreement was reached.