PANJIM: Probably for the first time, an entire village in Goa’s Mayem constituency preferred not to vote in the Zilla Panchayat elections as a mark of protest against their BJP MLA Pravin Zantye’s failure in solving their problems, particularly of bad roads.

Of the 1,150 voters in Maulinguem village, only two – the booth level officers (BLOs) on duty – cast their vote, while the rest boycotted the polling. The villagers have also threatened to boycott the 2022 State Assembly elections, if their problems continue.

The village falls in Karapur-Sarvan Zilla Panchayat where there are four candidates. There are two wards in the village with about 1150 voters.

“Neither the Chief Minister nor our MLA is bothered about our issues. There are no proper roads, no jobs to locals, no panchayat building, water issue, etc. All proposals are pending with the government,” local panch Jyoti Maulingkar said.

The panch member alleged that the local MLA has not visited their village, ever since he was elected. “The village has been completely neglected by the government. When they are not bothered about the people, why should we come out and vote,” she said.

Former Sarpanch Madhu Naik said that the people are united and have a single demand for repair of roads. Naik said that the people will boycott the upcoming Assembly election, if their demand is not met.