Situated nearly 2,600 metres above sea level, Rammam lacks conventional power, landphone and TV connectivity. For the inhabitants, recharging their mobile phones involves an arduous four-five-hour trek into neighbouring Sikkim. But this village in north Bengal is now elated - at least they have a new polling booth.
The newly set up polling station at Rammam Forest Primary School in the Darjeeling hills of northern West Bengal will see voters for the Lok Sabha polls queue up April 17.Part of the remote Srikhola-Daragaon village panchayat of Darjeeling district, which houses the highest polling booths in the state, Rammam has a total electorate of 334, with 175 male and 159 female voters.
Earlier, there were two polling booths under the panchayat - a part of the Bijonbari Block - at Srikhola Primary School nearly 2,800 metres above sea level, and the Daragaon Junior High School around 2,600 metres above sea level."Whenever the number of voters in a booth goes beyond 1,200, that booth is pided and a new booth is created. Rammam has been carved out by piding the Daragaon booth," Pushpak Roy, election officer-in-charge in Darjeeling, told IANS.
Srikhola has 842 voters, including 395 women. After the formation of the new booth, Daragaon is left with 841 electors, of whom 416 are women. It had 1,120 voters in 2009.The new booth has created a buzz among the voters, who are happy at the prospect of having to walk "just seven-eight km" to take part in the world's biggest democratic exercise."Earlier, we had to walk nearly 10-12 km to reach Daragaon to cast our votes, but this year we will have to walk just seven-eight km to reach the Rammam Forest Primary School," said school teacher Debdoot Rai.Close to the Nepal border, Rammam is 107 km from Darjeeling town and falls on the popular Sandakphu-Manebhanjan trekking route.
The motorable road ends at Rimbick, about 17 km from Rammam.For the polling personnel, the stiff climb through the treacherous mountain terrain takes about five hours, with the locals acting as guides. The polling materials are carried on the back of ponies."The way to Rammam is more treacherous than to Srikhola or Daragaon," said Bijonbari block development officer Dipak Rai."Polling personnel who have no experience of trekking face serious problems if they are assigned to such remote booths," said Ajit Karmakar, who served as the presiding officer at Daragaon in the 2009 election.Conventional electricity, landline telephones and television have so far not reached Rammam.
"Recently, the administration made available solar power. A few houses have electricity generated by local gas turbines," said Sandesh Rai, a first-time voter in Dargaon."Those who cannot afford such luxury have to trek for four-five hours to Sikkim, and get their mobile recharged," he said.While campaigning has peaked in most parts of the country, there is no trace of canvassing at Rammam, or the other two booths."Candidates don't come to our places. But still we will vote. We will vote with the hope that a new government will improve our living conditions," said Rai in Dargaon.