DARJEELING,: Polling personnel left for remote polling booths, listed as P-2
polling booths, in Darjeeling’s Singalila National Park area to conduct polling
for the Darjeeling Lok Sabha elections on April 26 on Wednesday from the
Dispersion Centre and Receipt Centre (DCRC) set up at Darjeeling Government
College (DGC).
This time around
they are facing a tough journey. They are set to cover long distances on foot
since Forest department has banned ponies in Singalila National Park where the
three P-2 booths are located. The Forest department had imposed this ban some
months back citing the probability of these animals spreading diseases to other
animals in the sanctuary.
Darjeeling sub divisional officer and
Returning Officer Richard Lepcha said, “The polling personnel for the three
polling stations left today from the distribution centre. They will today go to
Srikhola where they will halt for the night. They will be covering a total
distance of 106 km which will take more than four hours. An intermediate strong room has been set up
in Srikhola where the EVMs will be stored and be manned by security forces as
per ECI norms.”
The three P-2
polling stations which all fall under Darjeeling Assembly constituency are
Daragaon Junior High School where there are 1,034 voters, Rammam Forest Primary
School where there are 209 voters and Samanden Forest Primary School where
there are 213 voters. All these three booths
fall in Darjeeling-Pulbazar block.
“Tomorrow morning
from Srikhola one group will move to Daragoan which is about 17 km from there.
They will be using four-wheeler vehicles to travel some distance while the rest
of the 6 km they must travel by foot. Another group will move to Rammam which
is 19 km from there in which about ½ km they have to travel by foot. The third
booth which is in Samanden is 26 km from there in which they have to travel 7
km by foot,” said Lepcha.
The
polling teams will be provided porters, accommodation and food.
“We are
also providing one sector officer and three assistant sector officers. Due to
the terrain we are providing this in the location itself so there is no delay
in the polling process. We are also sending one reserve EVM each to the polling
party with the main polling machine in case an emergency arises,” said Lepcha.
“They will
be returning to Srikhola on election day after polling ends. They will stay
there overnight with the EVMs kept in the intermediate strong room with
security forces manning it. They will return the next day to the DCRC at
Darjeeling making them the last to arrive here,” he added.
Ajay Gupta,
who got his duty at Daragoan, said, “It is my first time that I am going to the
place so apart from doing my duty I will also be able to visit a new place. I
just want the elections to go smoothly.”