Santhals, Oraons boycott poll in Darjeeling 

Siliguri, Apr 30. Tribal voters, mainly Santhals and Oraons, in the Terai region of Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat today boycotted polling demanding among others a separate Parliamentary constituency for them.

Official sources said electors of two booths in Phansidewa block and four polling stations of Matighara-Naxalbari did not cast vote in response to Akhil Bharatiya Adibhasi Vikash Parishad sponsored vote boycott call for creation of Terai-Dooars constituency, reopening of closed tea gardens and laying new roads under proposed East-West corridor.

Voters of Bijlimore Tea Estate of booth 128 and 117 of Phansidewa block, Meri-view TE (booth 35), Lohasheri (36), Doom Dooma TE (45) and a nearby booth No 46 did not cast vote, local election office said. This area has approximately 5,000 voters, mainly tea growers, they said.

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supported BJP stalwart Jaswant Singh, sitting Congress MP Dawa Narbula and CPI(M)'s Jibesh Sarkar are in the fray for the Darjeeling seat.

Meanwhile, in another incident the electronic voting machine (EVM) at Middle Shantinagar twice developed a technical snag hampering the voting process.

However, nearly 35 per cent of Darjeeling's 1.2 million voters cast their voter in the first six hours, a report said.