After day-long talks with officials, Dalits of Vengaivayal village exercise their franchise

Dalits in Vengaivayal village vote after protest over contaminated water tank, while caste Hindus abstain in Pudukottai.

After day-long talks with officials, Dalits of Vengaivayal village who had earlier threatened to boycott the Lok Sabha election exercised their franchise on Friday evening.

They had decided to boycott the poll to protest against the failure on the part of the police in bringing to book the culprits who had mixed human faeces in an overhead water tank in the village in December 2022.

However, a majority of the caste Hindus in the adjacent Eraiyur village, who claimed that they were being wrongfully suspected in the case, did not cast their vote.

Only 62 of the 561 votes in the polling station at the Muttukadu Panchayat Union Government Primary School, which covers Vengaivayal Dalit hamlet and Eraiyur, were polled. Of these, 53 were said to be of Vengaivayal residents. Barring a few caste Hindus, the others did not vote, according to sources.

Earlier in the day, the Vengaivayal’s Dalits had protested by holding placards and covering their mouth with a black cloth. “We drank water mixed with faeces; we cannot vote happily. Do corpses have the right to vote?” read a placard.

Revenue officials led by the Tiruchi Divisional Officer R. Rajalaxmi held talks with the protesters, and persuaded them to vote in the evening.

“Officials have assured [us] that they would find the culprits. They told us that they would get us new land to build our houses and promised job opportunities and loans for starting self-help groups. Following these assurances, we have decided to vote,” said K.R. Murugan a Dalit.