New Delhi, Mar 15 (PTI) Poll teams have to trek through the hills of the Buxa Tiger Reserve to reach three polling booths with less than 1,500 voters in West Bengal’s Alipurduar district, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar said on Sunday.
Addressing a press conference here to announce the schedule of Assembly polls, Kumar highlighted the unique polling stations in the election-bound states of Assam, Kerala, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, and the Union Territory of Puducherry.
“Polling teams undertake an arduous journey of 50-60 km from Majuli in Assam via ferry and road, cross the Brahmaputra river and finally, reach the remote Dhanekhana polling station with 248 electors by tractor,” the CEC said.
A booth in the tribal area of Edamalakuddy in Kerala, with a total of 693 voters, is a unique remote polling station, where election officials reach after undertaking a 30-km journey through rugged off-road terrain on specialised vehicles, followed by an eight-km trek on foot.
“In Alipurduar district, polling teams trek through the Buxa Tiger Reserve hills to reach the polling booths at Buxa with 759 electors, Chunabhatti with 235 electors and Adma with 445 electors,” Kumar said.
In the Varusanad hills in Tamil Nadu’s Theni district, polling officials travel for three hours on difficult terrain to reach the Vellimalai polling station that has five voters.
“Built in 1885, Puducherry’s V O Chidambaram Pillai School, once École Primaire de Garçons under the French system, was designated a model polling station that hosts two polling stations with 722 and 651 electors respectively,” the CEC said.
The Election Commission on Sunday announced the schedule of the Assembly polls in the four states and Puducherry. Polling will be held on a single day in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry (on April 9) and Tamil Nadu (on April 23) and in two phases in West Bengal — on April 23 and April 29.
The counting of votes for all 824 seats across the four states and Puducherry will be taken up on May 4. PTI GJS RC
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