Over 3,400 voters boycott panchayat polls over idol theft

More than 3,400 voters in a village today boycotted panchayat elections in Bhilwara district of Rajasthan in protest against police for not being able to solve an idol theft case.
"Voters in Laduwas gram panchayat did not cast vote today to express their displeasure over an incident of theft in a temple. They were demanding recovery of the idol stolen from the temple few days back and when no progress was made by the police, the voters decided to boycott the elections," Bhilwara district collector Ravi Kumar Surpur said.
He said that district administration officials tried to persuade the villagers to participate in the voting but nobody did, he said.

A police officer said that efforts were on to identify the thieves and recover the idol stolen from Chomukha Nath temple last month.