EC ropes in choppers, boats, mules to ferry poll material
SHIMLA : As the poll frenzy in Himachal Pradesh reaches its crescendo, the election commission too is not leaving any stone unturned in its attempt to ensure a healthy turnout.
To make the otherwise inaccessible polling booths accessible, the poll body will make use of helicopters, boats, mules and porters to transport electronic voting machines in over two dozen polling stations. Roads are alien to all of them.
In some stations, polling parties will have to trek more than 20km. After all, every vote counts in an electoral democracy.
Helicopters will ferry election material to the far-flung village of Bara-Banghal in Kangra district. The village is home to 345 voters.
It was in 2007 that a polling station was set up for the first time in Bara-Banghal.
Most of the villagers here are from the Gaddi tribe of shepherds. As winter dawns upon the Himalayan heights, the tribe migrates to lower altitudes around the towns of Baijnath and Palampur.
At present, most of the inhabitants have moved out, but some are staying back. The village remains cutoff from the rest of the world due to snowfall at the Thamsar Pass (4,654 m above the sea level). Villagers have to trek for more than 72 kilometres to reach Baijnath. The road journey via Bharmaur takes nearly eight hours for them to reach Palampur.
BOATS FOR THE ISLAND VILLAGE
To facilitate polling in the island village of Sath-Kuthera, the election commission has arranged boats to ferry election material, along with the seven-member polling party.
This village has 95 voters and boats are the only means to reach it. Polling booth was set here for the first time during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
However, travelling by boats is not new for the villagers, as children here use them daily to reach their school in Dhameta village, across the Pong Dam.
TOO FAR A DISTANCE
In Shimla district, Kasha polling booth is still inaccessible by road and the polling party will have to trek for 24 km. They have been provided with satellite telephones for faster communication.
Similarly, Gaggal village in Kangra district’s Sulah assembly segment is 25 km away from the road. In Kullu district, the polling party will have to trek 20 km to reach Shakti polling booth in Banjar assembly segment.
Meanwhile, in Chamba district, the polling parties will have to trek 16 km to reach the booths in Fanotha and Groundi.
There are 24 polling booths in the state, reaching where mandates at least a five kilometers walk.
District administrations in Shimla, Lahaul-Spiti, Kinnaur and Chamba have arranged porters and mules to carry the polling material. Chief electoral officer Pushpendra Rajput said, “Adequate arrangements are in place for the polling day. Polling parties have been dispatched for the booths in farflung areas, while other will be dispatched on Wednesday.”
180 LITRES OF INDELIBLE INK
The election commission has brought in 180 litres of indelible ink for the November 9 polls in Himachal.
There are around 49 lakh registered voters and 7, 521 polling booths in the state.
Two vials each have been distributed in all polling stations across the state. Each vial is of 10 cc and one vial can be used for nearly 400 voters.
“We have brought in 18,000 vials of indelible ink for the state,” said chief electoral officer (CEO) Pushpendra Rajput, adding that it was nearly 3,000 vials more than what was used in the 2012 elections.
Indelible ink is manufactured by the 77-year-old staterun firm Mysore Paints and Varnish Limited (MPVL), Mysore, in Karnataka. “Since 1962, Mysore Paints and Varnish Limited has been supplying indelible ink for the assembly and local bodies elections,” said an MPVL official.