Dance of democracy in deep jungles as remote areas in Chamarajanagar brace up for elections

MYSURU Chamarajanagar district ensures remote and forested areas can vote with thorough planning and coordination among departments.

Chamarajanagar district which has almost 50 per cent of forest cover is a striking example of how elections are conducted to ensure that citizens in remote and inaccessible terrains are not bereft of their rights to exercise their franchise.

For over two months, the Deputy Commissioner of the district C.T. Shilpa Nag, returning officer, and BRT Tiger Reserve Deputy Conservator of Forests Deep Contractor, held discussions to thrash out the arrangements and identify problem areas to ensure smooth polling.

There were polling stations that were in network shadow areas which is where mobile signals cannot be received due to the remoteness of the terrain. Then there are polling booths in areas susceptible to human-animal conflicts.

“After a thorough study of the terrain and the polling stations we listed 78 polling booths to be located in areas coming under conflict zones while 17 booths or stations came under network shadow area,” said Ms. Deep Contractor.

In such places where mobile signals cannot be received, it was decided to make provision for wireless walkie-talkies of the forest department and the local police to the polling officers. The walkie-talkies, in the absence of network connectivity, are a must as there should be constant communication about the polling percentage or malfunctioning, if any, of an EVM, reporting any emergency etc.

But the more complex issue is conducting the elections inside the forests where there are “podus” or tribal hamlets within the core zone of the BRT Tiger Reserve. In BRT itself there are 57 “podus” or hamlets in core or buffer zones.

It is here that the synergy among different departments comes into the picture. While the EVMs are in the custody of the polling officers, the transportation is undertaken by the Forest Department staff who are familiar and experienced in driving in such terrain where ordinary vehicles do not ply.