Himachal Poll Officials Brave Tough Terrains Ahead of Elections

Ahead of the June 1 elections in Himachal Pradesh, poll officials are making strenuous efforts to reach remote polling stations. Some teams have trekked significant distances while electronic voting machines are transported via choppers to inaccessible areas. In total, 6,589 polling parties have already begun their arduous journeys.

Ahead of the June 1 election in Himachal Pradesh, poll officials have started heading towards booths, some of them far-flung, such as Pandaar in Dodra-Kwar and Shaakti polling booths in Kullu's Great Himalayan National Park. One polling party walked around 15 kms to reach the Aehlami polling booth in Mehla block of Chamba district, that falls under the Mandi Parliament Constituency, a spokesperson of the State Election Department said on Thursday.

Poll parties walked 13 kms on foot for the Chakki polling Station in Bhattiyat assembly segment, falling under Kangra Parliamentary constituency.

The Electronic Voting Machines were lifted in choppers to deliver them to the hard-to-reach Bara Banghal area, the official said.

Polling for the four Lok Sabha seats in Himachal Pradesh and six of its assembly seats will be held on June 1.

As of Thursday, 6,589 polling parties had begun their journey towards their destination, while 1,403 more will move towards their polling booths on Friday.

A total of 369 out of 7,992 polling booths, including two auxiliary polling stations, in Himachal Pradesh have been marked as 'critical'. The highest, 118, of such stations are in Kangra, followed by 58 in Sirmour, and 51 in Una, the EC said in a statement.

Forty-five critical polling stations are in Solan, 20 in Chamba, 17 in Hamirpur, 16 each in Bilaspur, Mandi and Shimla, seven in Kinnaur, three in Kullu and two in Lahaul and Spiti district, it said.