As the assembly election is underway in Himachal Pradesh, polling officials reached the snow-covered assembly constituencies on foot to reach higher reaches of the state on Friday morning.
Snow spells in the higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh over the past few days have covered several polling booths in the state in a thick layer of white, making it challenging for the polling parties to reach these areas.
The state recently received snowfall in areas including Rohtang and Lahaul-Spiti.
A polling team walked for roads covered in thick snow to reach Kuthera and Fatehpur in the Kangra district and Maliyat and Bharmour in the Chamba district of the state.
Notably, the Election Department has set up a total of 7,881 polling stations for the Assembly Elections.
Chamba, a remote district of the state, has the maximum number of 1,459 voters. The 26-Chask Bhatori polling station of Bharmour AC is the remotest station in this district, where the polling party has to walk a distance of 14 km to reach.
The Kangra district has a maximum of 1,625 polling stations while the Lahaul-Spiti district has the lowest 92.
There are 7,235 polling stations in rural and 646 polling stations in urban areas.
A total of 55,92,828 electors will decide the fate of 412 candidates in the Himachal polls.
Out of the total number of electorates, 27,37,845 are women, 28,54,945 men and 38 were third-gender. This time, the representation of woman candidates is 24.
Meanwhile, 67 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) comprising 6,700 personnel and 15 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) companies have been deployed to hold free and fair Assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh.
Besides this, 50,000 government employees have been put on poll duty. As many as 25,000 police officers are also stationed across the state.
Teams from the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF) comprising 800 personnel have also been posted.
The counting of votes will be done on December 8.
In 2017, BJP swept the Himachal polls, bagging 44 of the total 68 seats while Congress managed to get just 21 seats.
( With inputs from ANI )
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