The remote and hilly areas of Chamarajanagar with its dense forest coverage pose logistic and other challenges for the smooth conduct of the Karnataka Assembly elections.
Presence of wild animals near polling stations and lack of mobile network in remote villages are also other issues that are unique to the region.
Hence in the run up to the polls, the deputy commissioner D.S. Ramesh discussed the various challenges with his staff and in anticipation of the problems took measures to resolve it for the smooth conduct of the polls.
A meeting was conducted with the service providers and it transpired that about 142 polling stations in the district did not receive signals.
But after assessing the findings, the District Tribal Welfare Department was instructed to conduct a field check and the number of polling stations in network shadow area – where no mobile signals are received - was whittled down to 16.
‘’While there are two such polling stations in Kollegal – at Puranipodu and Dasanahundi, there are 12 such polling stations in Hanur including Dattahalli, Changadi, Tulsikere, Parasalnatha, Indiganath, Doddaane etc and the remining two are in Chamarajanagar’’, said B. Manjula, District Tribal Welfare Officer.
Communication network is imperative to not only give an update of the polling in progress including the voting percentage every hour but is also essential to convey any other information like technical snag in the EVMs, the safety of polling staff, or other development, she added.
As there was no feasibility of establishing mobile towers in the regions the district administration decided to harness the police department’s wireless communication service. All the polling stations will now be provided with walkie-talkie by the polci department to enable there was no communication gap during the polling.
In addition, the forest department will also deploy its staff in the polling stations coming under network shadow areas and be equipped with walkie-talkie as a standby. ‘’Arrangements are in place to ensure that the police and the forest department staff communicate to the headquarters periodically as per the Election Commission’s mandate’’, said Ms. Manjula.
Though the communication issue was resolved, there is the problem of wild animals in many of the regions. Chamarajanagar has tribal hamlets and village enclosures in B.R. Tiger Reserve, MM Hills Wildlife Sanctuary and Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary. There are nearly 450 to 500 elephants in Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary alone and some of the villages where the polling stations are located, are in the elephant zone. Hence the safety of the voters and the polling staff is also imperative and the forest department has been roped in to provide with security.
‘’We have been instructed to keep a watch on elephant movements especially in places like Shaagya, Madiwala and a few other places’’, said Mr. Nandesh, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary. Every polling station in the wildlife zone will have armed staff to deal with any emergency, he added.
Incidentally, many of the villages like Kokkabare, Doddaane and Tokkere cannot be easily reached in the absence of good roads given the uneven and steep terrain. The condition of the roads and remoteness of the villages discourages even political parties from campaigning. The fear of wild animals also keeps the party workers at bay during evening.
Here the forest department has been providing last-mile connectivity to the villagers by operating vehicles along forest roads. That initiative will now come in handy for the polling staff to reach the distant hamlets using the forest track and ensure that the voting takes place.
