Aruviyan Kani had begun his trek to the polling station from his home at Pothode, deep inside the Agasthya forest reserve, at around 6 a.m. on Tuesday. At close to 9 a.m., he arrived drenched in sweat at the single-teacher school in Podiyam, which serves as the polling booth to 440 people living in a clutch of tribal settlements in these forests.
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"Hardly any road exists after this point. A few jeep services do run once in a while, but considering the condition of the roads, you might reach faster if you walk. Three years ago, we got power in our households, thanks to the total electrification programme, but the local ward members or the MLAs over the years have not taken any interest in making these roads motorable. We usually come out of the forests only twice a week for the market in Kottoor. But after the COVID-19 pandemic, even that has not been functioning regularly. My daughter, a degree student, is staying at a hostel in the city, since daily commute from here is impossible," says Kani.
Part of life
The voters are somewhat used to the long walks, which are part of their daily lives, but for the polling officials, it can be a different ballgame, especially when they have to provide regular updates on the polling percentage to the Election Commission.
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"We have no network coverage here, but need to provide periodic updates. Luckily, we found a spot high up a hill nearby from where we can send the information. So, we head there frequently,” a sectoral officer tells
A few kilometres further down, and closer to the town, is the polling booth set up at a forest office in Kottoor. Many of the voters from the tribal settlements high up the hills depend on a KSRTC bus that arrives at 7 a.m. to access the booths. However, with the bus not turning up on Tuesday, some of the political parties arranged vans to transport the voters. Quite a few of them reach the bus stop after long treks through the forests.
Call of duty
"I come from Chonampara, which is around 7 km from here. Since both of us are employed, I and my wife started early as we have to head to work after casting our votes," says Chandran Kani, who operates a bamboo raft for tourists near the elephant rehabilitation centre in Kappukadu.
Eighty-year old Bhagavathy, who was dropped at the polling station in one of the vehicles, reminisces about the times when she used to start walking around 8 a.m and reached the polling station in the afternoon. Now, things have improved a bit. But the pace of the change has not been in sync with the aspirations of the people here, many of whom from the younger generation have now settled closer to the towns for the sake of convenience.