More than 20 to 30 societies in Nizampura have refused to cast their votes in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
This means that the constituency will be deprived of more than 20,000 eligible voters as 800 families are refusing to cast their vote. This has been done to protest the implementation of the enforcement of ‘Disturbed Areas Act, 1991.’
This act forbids a person of a different community from buying a house in a society with a different community in the majority. Residents in many parts of Nizampura, which is a predominantly Hindu area, are opposing the construction of one building near Navayard which will have Muslim tenants.
Residents are afraid that the overflowing population from another community will be disruptive.
The ‘Disturbed Areas Act, 1991’ which has been enforced in Vadodara gives the collector and district collector the right to stop the sale of the property without their consent if they think it will disrupt communal harmony. The residents of the society had previously approached the collector to protest the sale of the property in dispute but hadn’t gotten a proper answer from them.
Their giving up their right to vote is a sign of protest against this. The residents of these societies have even put out a board outside Ranjan Bhatt’s office.
