'Politicians didn’t campaign here, but we did not want to waste our vote’

Panaji: Hardly any politician campaigns in Keri. For the locals, it’s a labourious 90-minute walk from Nadkem, which has a barely-motorable road deep inside the Cotigao wildlife sanctuary in Canacona taluka. But if any outsider attempts to walk the same distance, it would take them a minimum of two hours.

Yet on Saturday, 58 of the 63 registered voters from Keri, including 80-year-old Babu Gaonkar, stepped out to vote and elect their zilla panchayat representative at the ICDS Anganwadi Centre, Nadkem.

The polling booth has the fewest voters, 142, and was set up only in 2024 for the Lok Sabha elections. Prior to that, villagers from Nadkem and Keri had to trek a further 5km through the forest to exercise their franchise at the polling booth in Yeda.


A threat of boycott ahead of the 2020 zilla panchayat elections brought the mamlatdar and deputy collector to their doorstep and was followed up with assurances that they’ll have a polling booth closer home.

“Politicians have not campaigned in our village and have not done much (in terms of providing facilities), but we don’t want to waste our votes,” Sanjay Laxman Velip told TOI as he trudged through the difficult terrain at Nadkem on Saturday.

“The entire family has voted,” he said.

The 40-year-old works as a security guard in Canacona and returned home last night so he could vote. He spent the night at home, and in the morning, headed to booth no. 20 at the ICDS Anganwadi Centre with his wife and parents. Later in the afternoon, his brother, Nilesh, arrived with his wife Nikit to cast their votes.

The polling booth at Nadkem is more than 100km from Panaji and some 25km from Canacona town, inside the Cotigao wildlife sanctuary. Keri is further ahead in the forest, a hamlet with no power at any of the 13 families’ homes and a difficult walk uphill from Nadkem.

“We make trips to Keri to create awareness about the importance of voting,” said booth level officer (BLO) Anand Gaonkar. “The youth (from the village) work elsewhere but unfailingly come home during festivals. The parents are all here. Even during the SIR exercise, we went to Keri. They are very cooperative and it’s good to see that all of them vote.”



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