Polling booth in Gir forest for single voter

Of the 51,851 booths in Gujarat around 400 odd have been identified as 'difficult-access' ones.

Among the most difficult among these are the Banej temple booth, set up in deep forest for just one voter, the 62 year old priest Mahant Bharatdas Darshandas of the temple associated with Mahabharata period anecdotes, and the one at Ajad island situated at around 30 km off Okha coast under Jamnagar LS constituency with 40 odd voters.

An election official on Monday said that the Banej booth was set up in 2007 for the first time while that on Ajad island off Okha coast was set up for the first time for 2014 LS polls. "There are 89 residents on the island of whom just 40-odd are voters," he said.

Banej polling station is a unique in the entire country with just one voter. Located in the deep forest of Gir, the only resident is the temple priest who resides alone in the deep woods. True to the mandate of ECI that ‘No Voter Shall be Left Behind’, the polling station is set up just for a single voter and it is ensured that he is able to exercise his right to vote, he said.

The polling official said that remote island of Ajad is in the middle of Bay of Kachchh in Khambhalia taluka of Devbhoomi Dwarka district. The election team has made all arrangements to travel with all material including EVM/VVPAT in a boat to the island to establish the polling station. In the last election around 90 pc of the voters at this island booth had exercised their franchise.

In all, the 26 Lok Sabha constituencies in Gujarat polling will be held simultaneously from 0700 to 1800 hrs tomorrow.

At the Banej booth, the polling party seals the EVM soon after the single voter casts his vote.