Braving all odds, polling parties reach their destinations

Amir Tantray

Dessa (Doda), Apr 18 : Braving all odds including heavy downpour and tough terrain, polling parties along with security forces moved towards polling stations established in remote and far off areas of Udhampur-Doda parliamentary constituency.

This news agency correspondent trekked alongside few polling parties in the far off Dessa area of district Doda amid heavy rain in the area due to which the trek became slippery.

According to the news agency, to conduct smooth and free and fair elections, Election Commission of India (ECI) has established 2637 polling stations across the constituency, of which 2,457 are situated in rural areas and 180 in urban areas, ensuring accessibility and convenience for voters from all corners of the constituency.

This constituency is spread in five districts of Kathua, Udhampur, Ramban, Doda and Kishtwar districts and consists of 18 Assembly segments including Udhampur West, Udhampur East, Chenani and Ramnagar (SC) of Udhampur, Bani, Billawar, Basohli, Jasrota, Kathua (SC) and Hiranagar of Kathua, Inderwal, Kishtwar and Padder–Nagseni of Kishtwar, Bhadarwah, Doda and Doda West of Doda and Ramban and Banihal of Ramban.

There are 16,23,195 registered voters in Udhampur Lok Sabha seat including 8,45,283 male, 7,77,899 female and 13 transgender electors.

In hilly districts of Doda, Ramban, Kishtwar, parts of Udhampur and Kathua districts, polling parties have to trek a few kilometers to reach their destination. Most of the polling stations are near the road side but some are far away and it took three to five hours for these polling parties to reach there.

In the Dessa area, district electoral office Doda had provided mules and horses to the polling staff to ferry Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and other election related material whereas at few places polling parties had to lift the election material on their heads to reach their destination.

Talking to news agency, Tehsildar Bhagwah, Babu Ram Choudhary, who was looking after the arrangement here, said, “We have deputed 11 polling parties to upper reaches of Dessa which are five to six kilometers from Gai, the nearest road link, and provided one horse to each polling party. As it was raining today, we have covered EVMs and VVPATs to ensure that they don’t face any technical issue and polling is held smoothly tomorrow.”

“Once these polling parties reach their destinations, booth level officers, Lambardars and Asha workers will ensure that they get food and other material required for their smooth stay,” he added.

He said that on the polling day, palanquins have been kept ready in far off areas to ferry aged voters who wanted to cast their votes in polling stations.