Accident affects voter turnout in Ramenahalli

Hassan: Almost half of the voters of Ramenahalli in Belur constituency did not cast their vote on Saturday, as an accident left the entire village disrupted. An autorickshaw, that was carrying passengers to the polling station, was hit by a truck near Chilur on the Hassan-Belur highway at 11 am. The two women in the autorickshaw, 50 year old Sharadamma and 60 year old Kamalamma, died on the spot. Another accident on the way to the polling station killed three women- Jayalakshmi, Ammayyamma and Lakshmi Gowda.

Latha, a resident of Ramenahalli, said that the villagers rushed to the spot immediately after they heard about the accident. Those that died in the accident also happened to be Latha’s relatives. After a large portion of the villagers rushed to the hospitals to look after those that had sustained injuries, nobody from the village bothered to go to the polling stations to vote.

The relatives of the deceased blame the distance the villagers have to cover in order to reach the polling station. Though Ramenahalli has good schools and other developmental facilities, the polling station for the village is located at Chilkur, which is 5 km away. During elections, the residents of Ramenahalli have to visit Chilur to exercise their right to vote. This time though, the voter turnout at Chilkur was just 759, including those from Ramenahalli and Lakshmipura.