Bhagalpur, Sept. 26: Around 25,000 voters in Narayanpur Lakshmipur, Ishmailpur (East), Ishmailpur (West), Kamalkund and Parbatta panchayats of Bhagalpur district have decided to boycott the upcoming Assembly elections alleging that the previous representatives had done nothing to develop the areas.

The five panchayats fall under the Gopalpur Assembly constituency of the district, where votes would be cast on October 12, during the first phase of the Assembly elections.

The decision to boycott the poll process was taken during a joint meeting of representatives of the five panchayats at Nariyanpur on Sunday.

Vipin Kumar, a local resident who took part in Sunday's meeting, said: "The two major problems that we face are recurrent floods and lack of proper connectivity with Naugachia, the nearest sub-divisional town. The area lacks basic facilities. Ishmailpur block was created in 2002, but till 2012, the block office had to shift to Naugachia during floods."

Another resident, Bindeshwari Mandal, alleged that the local MLA - Gopal Mandal of JDU - was a resident of the same area, but had done nothing to improve the conditions.

Sangita Devi, another resident, recalled how she had given birth to a child on a muddy village road in 2013 on her way to Naugachia. She said she had to walk, as there were no transport facilities available.

Kamleshwari Mandal, a local resident, said: "The villagers have decided to go ahead with the boycott call with all sincerity and have also decided to form a committee which would meet people and convince them to shun voting as part of the protest." None from the Bhagalpur district administration was available to comment on the issue.

"We would soon hold a meeting with villagers. We would try our level best to convenience the voters at Ishmailpur for casting of maximum votes," said a source from the office of Naugachia SDO.