Kerala Polls: Solving 'monkey menace' can make you win municipal elections in Wayanad

The residents in Wayanad have chosen an interesting affair as a contention point for this year's municipal elections in Kerala. Harithagiri Residents Association of Kalpetta Municipality, on Sunday, announced that they would only vote for the Party that comes with a permanent solution to the 'monkey menace' in their area.

While speaking on the long-persisting problem, residents state that monkeys run rampant in Kalpetta, finishing off food, pulling of tiles from roofs, some even directly attacking people on their streets.

"I am a 62-year-old woman. I was regularly casting my vote for all these years. But this time, I have decided to vote only if a candidate assures me that the problems created by monkeys will be solved. Monkeys of this area remove the tiles from the rooftop of my house, enter my kitchen and steal all food. Fearing them, my family has started keeping cooked food in the bedroom," said a resident, adding that despite the complaints, none of the governing bodies had taken any concrete action against the monkey problem.

Another resident, Rakesh, who is also the postman in the region expressed his plight over being constantly attacked by monkeys during his work. "Every time I go to a house, someone will have to drive away from the monkeys. People are really fed up with the monkeys in the region," he said. 

Overshadowing the posters of various political parties, the Harithagiri Residents Association have put up banners in the front, urging the candidates of the upcoming municipal elections, to address the problem in order to win votes. 

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Kerala local body polls 

Kerala's local body polls will be held in three phases from December 8 to December 14. The first phase of the polls will be held on December 8 in five districts of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathnamthitta, Alappuzha and Idukki. The second will be on December 10 at Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad and Wayanad. The third phase on December 14 will be in the remaining four districts of Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod. The counting of votes will take place on December 16. 

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(With Agency Inputs)