Maha: 14 villages boycott Panchayat polls in Thane district

At least 14 villages haveboycotted the Gram Panchayat elections to press for theirdemand to be a part of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation,a district official said on Thursday.

The Gram Panchayat elections in Thane district arescheduled to be held on January 15.

With 14 villages boycotting the elections, five GramPanchayats in the district will not go to polls on Friday,deputy collector Balasaheb Wakchoure said.

Residents of these villages have been agitating forthe last 15 years and had boycotted the last two generalelections as well, the official said.

A committee fighting for the cause has already given amemorandum to the district administration in this regard, hesaid.

As many as 143 Gram Panchayats will go to polls inThane district on January 15, after elections for five localgoverning bodies have been boycotted and members of eightPanchayats were elected unopposed, the official said.

Apart from this, some nominations in two more GramPanchayats were not valid and some members were electedunopposed in some seats, he added.