Believe it or not but poll personnel will hike through rugged terrain of Arunachal Pradesh bordering China for a day so that the lone voter in a polling station can exercise her franchise as the state goes to Lok Sabha and Assembly polls simultaneously on April 11, 2019.
A report published on Sunday by NDTV stated that the lone voter, identified as Sokela Tayang, resides along with her children in Malogam, around 39 km from Hayuliang, the district headquarters of Anjaw district.
The area falls under the Hayuliang Assembly constituency in Arunachal Pradesh.
The report quoted sources as saying that very few families live in Malogam and all the voters, except Sokela, who is 39 years old, are registered to vote in other polling stations.
The report quoted sources at the office of the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) as saying: “The polling station had two voters during the 2014 elections. Now, for some reasons, Sokela’s husband Janelum Tayang has transferred his name to another polling booth under the same constituency.”
The report also quoted deputy CEO Liken Koyu as saying that the polling personnel, including a presiding officer, polling officers, security personnel and porters, will need a full day to reach Malogam polling station from Hayuliang on foot.
Koyu said: “They may have to be in the booth from 7 am to 5 pm on the polling day. We don”t know when she will come. One cannot be forced to cast his or her vote early.”
A total of 7.94 lakh voters, including 4 lakh women, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the first phase of the polls on April 11.
For the female voters in Arunachal, 11 polling stations have been exclusively set up in the State this time.
As per the report, one of the low-voter polling stations is Lamta polling booth which falls under the Pakke-Kessang Assembly constituency which has only six voters.
Out of the 2,202 polling stations in Arunachal Pradesh, 7 polling stations have less than 10 voters, 281 polling stations have voters in between 11 to 100 while 453 polling stations have voters in between 101 to 200, said sources.
One booth in Naharalagun under Itanagar Assembly constituency of Arunachal has the highest number of voters – 1,340.