THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Daltonganj, Oct 29: From children to battery rickshaw drivers, all have hit the streets campaigning for more and more voting in this Vidhan Sabha election.
However, a few groups of people are kept at arm’s length by the election machinery.
Legal wine sellers feel left out
The first such group is legal wine sellers. Never in the voting annals these legal and licensed wine sellers have been roped in for this work. They feel bad and neglected.
The Jharkhand Story correspondent spoke to a few of the licensed wine sellers who said, “We are the second one to give the state its revenue after the transport department. But we are looked down upon. Why? Just because we sell bottles of beer and wine.”
“We have a huge clientele. We know them personally. We believe we can also add to the efforts of increasing the voting percentage,” said one of them.
Nodal officer of SVEEP Md Jawed Hussain, when confronted, was quite tongue in cheek when he said, “These people are an integral part of the society. We need the support and cooperation of each and every citizen.”
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Fishermen: A vital yet neglected community
Similarly, there is a strong fleet of fishermen. The fishermen have their cooperative societies. Their votes matter and it matters most.
There are very strong pockets of fishermen here in all the five assembly constituencies of Palamu where their votes play a decisive role.
Such a poll voice has never been heard by the officers which is sad and belies an inclusive approach to the cause of voting.
Fishermen have never been asked to join the campaign for voting. They are as neglected as the licensed beer and wine sellers.
Barbers also overlooked
Again, there are barbers here who have fashionable hair-cutting salons while a good number of them just sit by the side of the road either on a brick or two or beneath the tree with a mirror tugged on the trunk of the tree.
Barbers have also not been touched by the poll machinery. Such an overlooking is not fair which they feel is unjust. The Na Yee (Barbers) Samaj is quite a noticeable society.
Will the SVEEP team here approach licensed wine sellers, fishermen and barbers to join the brigade of more and more voting campaigners?
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