Tezpur: Soklela Tayang, a 44-year-old woman from Malogam village in Arunachal Pradesh, is the sole voter registered at Malogam polling station (booth number 52), which falls under the Hayuliang (No 44) Assembly constituency of Arunachal and Arunachal East Parliament constituency. There were many challenges in holding elections at Malogam village. Distance and accessibility are one of the main challenges for the Election Commission. There is no public transportation available to Malogam.
So, the deployment of election staff at polling centres in the village is a Herculean task. However, a team of election officials and security personnel travelled a significant distance for the conduct of the polling. The journey for polling staff and security personnel took almost a day. On the other hand, limited communication is also a problem for the administration. There's no telephone or mobile phone connectivity in Malogam, making it difficult to coordinate logistics.
Despite these challenges, authorities ensured Soklela Tayang could exercise her vote. They transported the necessary election material and polling personnel to Malogam specifically for the single vote. This woman voter does not usually live in this village, but she lives at Chakela Tayang near Lohit district. Tayang only comes to her village for special work or to vote. It may be noted that the election team went to the village for single voting.
On the day of the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly elections, which coincided with the 18th Lok Sabha elections across the country, Tapir Gao is the current Member of Parliament (MP) from the Arunachal East Parliament constituency and is contesting again on a BJP ticket. His main opponent is former Congress Education Minister Basish Chettri. Arunachal Pradesh has a total of 2,226 polling stations. Notably, reaching 228 stations required a two-day journey for election officials in Arunachal.
Read more: 150 Polling Stations In Arunachal To Be Managed By Women: CEO
