Mysuru:  Voting is not a right it is our responsibility too. And as it is the election season, the Election Commission of India (ECI) is creating awareness among the voters about the importance of voting.

The effort of the ECI in this direction is welcome. But should there not be polling booths for the voters to cast their votes? This is the question being raised by the villagers of Madayyana Hundi in Hoskote Gram Panchayat coming under Varuna Assembly Constituency.

Till now, there is not a single voting booth established in  this village. The villagers complain that they have to move from one place to another to cast their votes. The voters here have to go to Moodalli, which is two kilometres away from the village or to Allattur, that is one kilometre away from the village to cast their votes.

As a result, the senior citizens or the women with children find it difficult to go all the way to a far off polling centre. Hence, the villagers demand that a polling booth must be set up in their village. Since they have to go to other villages to vote, many of them do not exercise their franchise and the women and the elderly show complete disinterestedness in the election process.

There are more than 500 voters out of whom nearly 120 belong to Okkalu Lingayat community and there are also Okkalu Madivala Shetty community.

As the public transport is inadequate here, the voters are forced to walk to the voting booths either in Moodalli or Allattur, said senior citizen Mallanna of the village.

The villagers are now urging the District Electoral Officer to set up a polling booth in their village at least for this Assembly election slated for May 12 and help them cast their votes.