Madhya Pradesh villagers denied water for not voting BJP: Report
What's the story
Days after polling for assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh (MP), reports have surfaced that villagers are being denied water from public borewells unless they swear that they voted for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The reports have emerged from Ashoknagar district's Nayakheda village under the Mungaoli assembly constituency, held by state Public Health Engineering (PHE) Minister Brajendra Singh Yadav.
Context
Why does this story matter?
The BJP and the Congress are likely having a tough contest in MP.
In the 2018 assembly elections, the Congress nosed ahead of the BJP, ending the latter's 15-year rule.
However, the BJP toppled the Congress government within 15 months after Jyotiraditya Scindia and his loyalists jumped ship.
Mungaoli falls under the Guna Lok Sabha constituency, where the Scindias are influential.
Details
Pumps turned off, switched off quietly at night: Residents
While some residents dismissed the reports, several women said villagers were being asked whether they had voted for the BJP.
If not, the submersible pumps in borewells were switched off, leaving them without water. Some residents said the pumps were being switched on quietly at night.
The Congress targeted the BJP, accusing it of punishing citizens for not voting for it.
Twitter Post
Here is the residents' statement
Just two days after MP voted in a relatively peaceful Assembly election, disturbing reports have emerged from Ashoknagar- that rural women are being denied water from government-built bore-wells unless they take oaths that they voted for the ruling BJP @ndtv @NDTVMPCG pic.twitter.com/7bHnwfuHHT
— Anurag Dwary (@Anurag_Dwary) November 22, 2023
Statement
Why is this happening after election: PHE minister
Denying the allegations, Yadav said, "I don't understand why such a thing is happening after the election."
"This is a government borewell. I had got four bores done in the village. We got bores done to provide water to everyone," he added.
The results of the elections are awaited on December 3.
Borewells and hand pumps come under the PHE department.
Equation
The BJP-Congress tussle over Mungaoli
Mungaoli was dubbed a Congress bastion after the grand old party in the February 2018 byelections became the only one in over 60 years to win Mungaoli three consecutive times.
Yadav won as a Congress candidate in the 2018 bypolls and then switched over to the BJP, causing the Congress government to fall.
He then won as a BJP candidate in the 2020 bypolls.