AGRA: The Samajwadi Party (SP) government in Uttar Pradesh has been raising the development pitch in the run up to the 2017 assembly elections, but nearly seven lakh people in 2,500 odd small villages in Mulayam Singh Yadav's family borough of Mainpuri live in the dark as there is no electricity, even 70 years after India's independence. Despite being voters for UP's powerful political clan, these villagers have not seen power reaching their homes. Though many people in the area own cell phones, they have to travel several kilometres a day just to charge them.These 2,500 villages in Mainpuri district are described as “hamlets” by the local administration even though many of these have a population of 1,500 or more. The smallest of these villages have a population of about 300. People here say life without power is tough. Residents of these villages have been fighting for long to get basic amenities. Around 61 families in four villages of Mainpuri district had even boycotted the 2014 Lok Sabha elections to press for their demands.Talking to TOI, village pradhan of Smaan Gram Panchayat Prashant Sharma said many villages, including Hindupur, Gulahar, Nanglapopy, Vikrampur, Gudakhera, Guraiya, Raichala, Sekhupur, Gulabpur, Raipura, Kunwarpur and Paharpur have no electricity connections. “At night we can see lights shinning at a distance but our homes remain in the dark,” he said.Prashant Sharma said some neighbouring villages started getting power a few days ago but Smaan residents are yet to see light. He also said a majority of the houses in his village do not have toilets and people go out to the fields at night to answer nature's call. He said at least 6,000 toilets are needed for the 34 villages in the area.Ramlal, a resident of Hindupur village, said, “Though Saifai (the native village of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav) is just 20 km away from our village, we have been living in darkness.” He said school and college going children face a lot of problems during exam time as they have to study under the light of kerosene lamps.Sugar Singh Pal (75) of Raipura village said, “I’ve reached the fag end of my life but the dream of seeing electricity in my home remains.” When Pal heard the news of the surgical strikes by the Indian Army across the LoC, he, along with many other villagers, travelled 7 km to watch the news on television.Executive engineer (rural) P M Prabhakar admitted that about 2,500 villages don't have electricity supply. He said a major electrification project under Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana is underway and it’s a matter of “a few more months” when all these villages will get power connections.District magistrate Chandra Pal Singh said the electrification project could have been completed last year but the company, which was awarded the contract, was blacklisted due to certain irregularities. The DM said the process to invite a new contractor for the task has been undertaken and, hopefully, these villages would soon be electrified.