18-km trek inside deep forest for a single vote
A polling team undertakes a ‹ve-hour trek to help a 92-year-old bedridden man at Edamalakkudy who has applied for the vote-from-home facility cast his vote. The team will be honoured in consideration of the eŽort
o record a single home vote, a special polling team, including three women ocials, has trekked 18 kilometres inside the deep forest under the Idukki Lok Sabha constituency. According to ocials, the team trekked to the Nooradi tribal settlement under the Munnar forest division on Wednesday as part of the vote-from-home exercise meant for senior citizens aged above 85 and dierently abled voters.
According to Devikulam Subcollector V.M. Jayakrishnan, Sivalingam, a 92-year-old bedridden
TA special polling team on the way to deep forest on Wednesday to register a vote from a tribal settlement in Edamalakkudy under the Munnar forest division.
man in the Nooradi settlement, led an application for home voting, which the election authorities approved.
Nooradi is a remote settlement in Edamalakkudy, the rst tribal panchayat in the State. Ocials said the special team travelled from Munnar to Edamalakkudy by jeep in the morning. The team reached Keppakkad, the last point accessible to vehicles, around 8 a.m.
They began the trekking around 8 a.m. and, after a ve-hour journey, reached Sivalingam’s house around 1.15 p.m. and set up a voting compartment. Mr. Sivalingam cast his vote with the assistance of his grandson S. Mohanan. After completing the voting process, the team reached Keppakkad around 7 p.m.
The team
Ocials said the special team led by Munnar Engineering College assistant professor Jisha Merin Jose comprised Munnar Vocational Higher Secondary School teacher M. Asha; Munnar Divisional Forest Oce (DFO) clerk A.V. Decimol; Edamalakkudy village ocer Syam G. Nath; beat forest ocers Abhishek K.S. and Shibindas C.L.; civil police ocer Anish Kumar K.R.; forest protection watchers K. Raman, Sivasenan; and booth level ocer Jayakumar. Mr. Jayakrishnan said that the special team would be honoured soon in consideration of the eort put in by them. Idukki Collector Sheeba George said the attempt indicated the value assigned to every single vote.