Tag : Despite

Shimla/Manali: Widespread snow and extreme cold climatic conditions in the higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh on Thursday has not impacted arrangements for the Assembly polls on Saturday, say election officials. Even the voters are gung-ho over their participation in record despite extreme climatic conditions. Officials told IANS that at a majority of 92 polling stations for a population of 31,538 in Lahaul-Spiti district -- out of the state's 7,881 booths -- there was widespread overnight snowfall. The polling booths in the district, a cold desert dotted by tiny helmets spread over the Himalayan peaks, adjoining Tibet, are scattered over rugged and inhospitable terrain where poll officials have to trek hours to reach there. "The polling material has already reached all polling stations across the state, including the remotest stations," Neeraj Kumar, officer on special duty with the state election department, told IANS in Shimla. He said the election staff at the far-off polling booths would reach by Friday, a day ahead of the election. "Our election staff is highly motivated. So are the electorates. This time we will see a record polling of over 80 per cent," he added. In the 2017 Assembly polls, a record 75.57 per cent polling, highest in four decades, was experienced. At that time too the Congress and the BJP were locked in a straight contest. Electorates of remote Kinnaur, Chamba and Lahaul-Spiti districts, part of the sprawling Mandi parliamentary constituency that covers almost two-thirds of the state, have a special place in the history of democracy in independent India as they were the first to exercise their franchise months ahead of the rest of the nation for the first general elections between December 1951 and Febr ...