The poll booth that vanished
The polling booth that had the distinction of having the least number of voters ? three to be precise ? has disappeared from the electoral map of Arunachal Pradesh.
The polling booth that had the distinction of having the least number of voters — three to be precise — has disappeared from the electoral map of Arunachal Pradesh.
But the Election Commission (EC) has done its job. It has sent two electronic voting machines (EVMs) to local electoral officers for the booth at 6 Chaco IB, 38 kilometres from Singchung.
It's a different matter that the assistant electoral registration officer had written to the EC about the futility of setting up a booth for which there were no voters.
In 1999, the booth had three voters. Only one, Rovin Dessiso, turned up to cast his vote. During the electoral roll revision in 2001, the number of electors went up to six. When the officials updated the roll in November 2003, not a single voter turned up. Nor did the team find any of them. But the booth exists on record.
Ironically, the booth is in Arunachal West, the fourth largest constituency, area-wise, in the country. Covering 40,572 sq km It comes in after Ladakh, Barmer and Kutch.
With barely 24 hours left for polling, assistant electoral registration officer K. Peyang, who is in charge of the Singchung circle, does not know what to do with the EVMs. But he is hopeful that Arunachal Pradesh will continue to hold the record for having the least number of voters for a booth. The 1300 Chain Labour Camp polling station of Kalaktang circle in Arunachal West constituency and the 50 Temporary Structure polling booth in Arunachal East constituency have seven voters each.
