A booth for 34 voters

The booth set up at the anganwadi building in Pachakanam inside the Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) in the Peerumade Assembly constituency of Idukki district had a unique feature. The booth was set up to serve just 34 voters.

It registered the first votes early in the morning with a group of three persons turning up. Then, it was a long wait for the poll officials for the voters to come in.

“Had all the voters turned up, we could have completed the election work early,'' said an election official. He said they had to wait either till the last voter turned up or at 5 p.m. when the polling closes. However, by 12 noon only eight voters had exercised their franchise.

The Peerumade constituency, with estate and forest settlement areas, also hosted the largest number of voters in a single booth at Amaravathy where there were 1,566 voters.

In Edamalakkudy tribal grama panchayat, the remotest area inside Munnar forest in Devikulam constituency, the polling booth was set up for 1,553 voters after officials trekked a forest path of 18 km.

Edamalakkudy was the only grama panchayat in the district where there was only one booth.