No safety, no vote: Flex boards in Wayanad panchayat call election boycott over wild elephant threat

Villagers in Kerala’s Wayanad district have threatened to boycott polling booths ahead of the state Assembly elections scheduled for April 9, escalating a confrontation over delays in capturing a wild tusker, even as a legal challenge complicates the operation.

Flex boards in Valluvadi, Vadakkanad and Karippoor announce that residents will abstain from voting, linking the move to the failure to capture Mutti Komban, a wild elephant blamed for killing a young farmer and repeatedly entering human habitations.

Titled “To the attention of politicians”, the boards, said to placed by youths in the region, accuse the Forest Department of maintaining silence despite what they describe as a continuing threat to life, property and the locality. Political leaders are criticised for adopting a stance seen as supportive of the department.

In Vadakkanad, one board states that politicians who stand with the Forest Department, undermine local interests, and fail to respond to lapses in capture efforts will not receive votes. In Karippoor, the messaging is direct: “No vote if there is no safety” and “A government that cannot ensure life has no right to ask for votes”.

The Valluvadi boards read: “To the attention of politicians… This is a protest by a group of youths from this locality. Having lost faith in the promises of successive politicians, the youths here are responding. We address both the Forest Department, which has remained silent without capturing the killer elephant that has become a threat to life, property and the land even after so long, and the politicians who are adopting a stance that supports them… We are expressing our politics. ‘Killer elephants will return to the locality under different names.’ Until a permanent solution is found to wildlife menace, we will no longer go to the polling booth"

The boards suggest hundreds of voters in wards one, two and three of Noolpuzha panchayat may abstain.

Residents point to repeated failed attempts to tranquillise and capture the elephant, even after orders were issued, and say its continued movement into populated areas has deepened fear and disrupted livelihoods.

Capture efforts and competing approaches

The Forest Department has deployed thermal drones, specialised tracking teams and four kumki elephants to monitor and apprehend Mutti Komban (TT-1), described as a “risk-taking” habitual crop raider with a learned preference for cultivated harvests and allegedly responsible for two farmer deaths.

A kraal is being constructed at the Muthanga Elephant Camp for the first time in nine years to house the tusker after capture. Officials have attempted to use tranquilliser darts, but the efforts have not succeeded so far.

Residents, however, argue that the continued failure to capture the elephant has left them with little option but to collectively withhold their democratic right to vote until a lasting solution to wildlife attacks is implemented.

Legal challenge adds to standoff

The operation now faces a legal hurdle, with the Sama Srishti Federation moving the Kerala High Court to block the capture. The organisation argues there is no proof the elephant caused the recent human fatalities.

It also contends that legal protocols for Schedule I animals were violated, alleging that authorities issued a single consolidated order instead of separate authorisations for hunting and captivity. Further, it says Standard Operating Procedures favour tranquilising the animal for radio-collar tracking rather than permanent confinement.

The court has sought formal instructions from the state government and the Animal Welfare Board, placing the capture effort under judicial scrutiny even as tensions on the ground persist.