81 to cast ballot in Pong’s island village

Rajiv Mahajan

Nurpur, May 30

The Sath Kuthera polling station, situated in the Pong wetland of the Fatehpur Assembly constituency, holds a unique distinction for the Kangra parliamentary constituency. The station, set up on the premises of a village temple serai, has only 81 registered voters, including 45 women, who shall exercise their franchise on June 1.

As per official information, the polling station has the least number of registered voters in lower Kangra district.

In 2012, the State Election Commission established a polling station in this village and since then, the voters have been casting their votes for the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, whereas during the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) elections, they have to travel in boats for 2 km or walk 6 km to reach the polling station situated in Bari of Fatehpur tehsil.

Residents have been flagging the demand to set up polling station for the PRI elections as well, but nothing concrete was done so far. Harbajan Singh and Kehar Singh, residents of this island village, have appealed to the State Election Commission to set up a polling booth at the village for the elections of the PRIs, keeping in view the hardships faced by the electorate.

According to the Booth-Level Officer, “The water level of Pong wetland has receded and the polling party can go to the station on a light four-wheeler by travelling 3 km from Dhameta.”