Ward of about 1,000 people to boycott TN Assembly polls

Nagapattinam (TN), Apr 4: About 1,000 residents of ward number five of Vaitheeswarankoil town panchayat in the district have announced they will boycott the Apr 13 Tamil Nadu Assembly polls as their demands to relocate the liquor outlet situated near a temple in the area had not been met.

The ward Councilor Saravanan (MDMK), said that the TASMAC outlet near the famous Vaidyanathaswamy temple was proving a "big nuisance" for the devotees visiting the temple and female members of the locality. There were frequent drunken brawls and the appeals of the local population to shift the outlet had fallen on deaf ears, he said.

"The people of Ward Five have now decided to boycott the polls. We have tolerated the nuisance for four years and this time to show our protest, we will mount black flags on our houses on Apr 13," he said. The Vaitheeswarankoil town panchayat had passed a resolution long ago urging the authorities to shift the outlet, he said.

Earlier in a campaign led by Saravanan, residents of the ward submitted a memorandum to Sirkazhi Tahsildar announcing their decision to boycott the polls.

PTI