we have identified many areas where polling will be conducted for the first time or after nearly two decades..................
Digital desk: To give residents of Saranda, Asia's densest sal forest, the opportunity to exercise their right to vote, polling teams and materials will be air-dropped from helicopters on May 13 in many interior areas in the Maoist den of the Singhbhum Lok Sabha seat in Jharkhand. This will witness voting for the first time or after a decades-long gap.
As many as 118 remote booths will be set up by personnel and materials dropped from choppers.
"We are committed to ensuring that no voter is left out... we have identified many areas where polling will be conducted for the first time or after nearly two decades as these locations were badly affected by Maoist insurgency," West Singhbhum Deputy Commissioner cum District Election Officer Kuldeep Chaudhary told PTI.
Though there has been progress, West Singhbhum still ranks among the areas in the nation most severely afflicted by left-wing extremism. It had witnessed 46 Maoist-related incidents resulting in 22 deaths last year.
This election would be the first election in polling places like Middle School, Nugdi, and Madhya Vidyalaya, Borero, according to the DC.
"As many as 118 booths in difficult locations such as Robokera, Binj, Thalkobad, Jaraikela, Roam, Rengrahatu, Hansabeda, and Chhotanagra have been identified for air dropping. In some areas, polling parties will have to walk for 4-5 km. We are ensuring that no area remains untouched this time," Chaudhary said.
After being referred to be "liberated zones" in the past, Thalkobad and roughly twenty additional villages were established by the administration through extensive security force operations, such as Operation Anaconda. There are now fifteen additional security force camps in the area.
"Besides helicopters, polling parties will travel through trains and roads. As many as 121 teams will be dispatched by trains, for which dry runs have been conducted. Teams on foot have to reach cluster points, and then go to polling stations. By 5.30 am on the polling date, all teams must reach the stations to conduct mock polling," he said.
According to the DC, there are over 62 voters in the constituency who are over 100 years old.
Walter Lakra from the Nandpur neighborhood of the Manoharpur police station is one of them; he informed the DC that he would not be able to walk to the polls. According to Chaudhary, he would have the opportunity to exercise his franchise at his door.
"For these 62 voters, and 3,909 electors aged above 85 years, besides 13,703 persons with disability, we have ensured that they get the option of home voting," he said.
To raise awareness of the importance of exercising one's right to vote, the administration is using creative tactics such as constructing a massive sky balloon at a height of 100 feet and implementing 1,284 "Chunav Pathshala" under the Systematic Voter's Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) program.
There are 14.32 lakh voters in Singhbhum, a reserved seat for Scheduled Tribes, with 7.27 lakh of them being women.
The wife of former chief minister Madhu Koda, sitting member of parliament Geeta Kora, has been fielded by the BJP for the seat.
Recently, Kora—the only Jharkhand-based Congress MP in the outgoing Lok Sabha—joined the saffron party. Allies of India have not yet announced their candidate for the position.
Six assembly constituencies made up the Singhbhum Lok Sabha seat: Seraikela, Chaibasa, Majhganon, Jagnathpur, Manoharpur, and Chakradharpur. The remaining sections are located in West Singhbhum district, except Seraikela, which is located in Seraikela-Kharsawan district.
Jharkhand will hold four rounds of the Lok Sabha elections on May 13, 20, 25, and June 1.
The BJP won eleven seats in the 2019 general elections, but its ally AJSU only managed one. Congress and the JMM had each gained one seat.
Leave A Comment