85.5 pc polling in Bara Bhangal, remotest polling station in Himachal Pradesh

Lalit Mohan

Advertisement

Dharamsala, June 1

About 85.5 per cent polling was recorded in Bara Bhangal, the remotest and highest polling booth in Kangra located at a height of 7700 feet above sea level. As per information available, out of 159 voters at the polling booth, 136 cast their vote.

As many as 470 voters are registered at the Bara Bhangal village. Out of these, 311 voters have migrated down to Bir area of Kangra district where a polling station had been set up for them. Tucked away deep in the Dhauladhar and Pir Panjal ranges of the Himalayas, Bara Bhangal is considered to be the remotest village in the hill state. A polling booth was first set up in this village in the Assembly elections in 2007, after 60 years of independence.

The voters in Bara Bhangal boycotted the general elections in 2009 as their demand to exclude the village from the sanctuary area was not met. They had, however, voted in the 2012 Assembly elections.

Helicopters were used to lift polling parties to the Bara Bhangal polling booth in the previous three elections.

Before 2007, the villagers used to trek 72 km through the 4,654 mt high Thamsar Pass or travel more than 300 km via Chamba to reach Bir in Baijnath (Kangra district) to exercise their franchise.

Most of the people in this village are nomad shepherds and migrate to Bir in winter. However, many of them stay back in the village, braving the harsh weather.