Unable to come to terms with the fact that 10 women who cared for their family members till 24 hours back are no more, the people of this remote village have stayed away from the polling for Mahabubnagar parliamentary constituency on Thursday, in spite of the appeal made by district authorities for use of their right of franchise. “We have decided to stay away from the polling on Wednesday night itself in grief over the death of our dear ones as it is the least we can do to express our respect to the departed souls,” Venkatramulu, a villager who participated in the funeral of about half a dozen women, told The Hinduduring a visit on Thursday.
The polling officials waited and waited for the voters to turn up in three polling stations set up in the Government Upper Primary School there with a total of 2,263 votes. However, nobody turned up for the voting as decided by the villagers.