‘P-2 booths’ in Darjeeling that polling parties take two days to reach

EOI, DARJEELING, JULY 7, 2023: As the hills get ready for the two-tier panchayat polls in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration area on Saturday, the ballot boxes were distributed on Friday from the different Disbursing Centre and Receiving Centre (DCRC) located in the nine blocks.

The polling personnel for ‘P-2 booths,’ which are remote booths that take two days to reach, however left for their polling stations on Thursday. Presently there are three P-2booths in Darjeeling district, all under the Bijanbari-Pulbazar Block: Samanden Forest Primary School, Rammam Forest Primary School and Daragaon Junior School which is about 90 km from Darjeeling and is located at a height of about 11,000 feet. Stretches of the roads to the P-2 booths are not motorable. Polling personnel have to walk, while the ballot boxes must be carried by porters or ponies.

After moving out from the DCRC at Bijanbari-Pulbazar Block on Thursday the polling personnel had to change vehicles thrice to reach Rammam Forest Village and travel about 10 km or more on ponies and on foot to reach Samanden around 7 p.m. Moreover, the route there was worse than usual owing to the continuous rainfall since the past few days. Bridges had also been washed away.

“We had to travel about two hours from Rammam Forest Village on foot with the ballot boxes loaded on the ponies to reach Daragoan. 

The road stretch we had to travel was bad, with us having to cross rivers as bridges had been damaged. It is tough for us to reach here,” said a polling personnel stationed at Samanden Forest Primary School. 

Even though the Kalimpong District boasts of the polling station furthest from the district headquarters, Tangta Primary School being about 133 kms by vehicle from Kalimpong town and a walk of 4 kms, owing to improved road connectivity and it being closer to the DCRC there areno P-2 booths in the Kalimpong district this time. This time round the polling agents had to leave for Tangta from the DCRC in Gorubathan block instead of Kalimpong town.

Similar sights were seen in DCRCs at different blocks in the Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts, with polling personnel leaving for their respective polling stations.

A total of 3,054 candidates are participating in the two-tier polls at the levels of gram panchayat and panchayat samiti in the Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts. In the Darjeeling district, a total of 1576 candidates are contesting in the gram panchayat and 428 in the panchayat samiti. The number of voters is 387, 952. In the Kalimpong Districta total of 814 candidates are contesting in the gram panchayat and 233 in the panchayat samiti. The voters in the district stand at 175, 932. A total of 62 candidates have won uncontested