- Title: India's remotest areas gear up for general elections
- Date: 18th April 2024
- Summary: SOUTH GARO HILLS, MEGHALAYA, INDIA (APRIL 18, 2024) (ANI - No use India) ELECTORAL OFFICERS IN VEHICLES DEPARTING FOR POLLING STATIONS ELECTORAL OFFICERS STANDING NEAR VEHICLES ELECTORAL OFFICERS UNLOADING LUGGAGE FROM VEHICLE ELECTORAL OFFICERS COLLECTING EVM/ POLICE PERSONNEL STANDING VARIOUS OF ELECTORAL OFFICERS CARRYING EVM CROSSING WATERBODY OFFICERS CLIMBING UPHILL TO REACH POLLING STATION (SOUNDBITE) (English) DISTRICT ELECTORAL OFFICER, SHIVANSH AWASTHI, SAYING: “Our main challenge is our district has lot of remote areas. So, we have around 108 polling stations for which polling party has been dispatched on P minus two days, i.e. two days before the poll. There are around seven to eight polling stations which are un-motorable. So, at some of the polling stations, the polling party has to walk, in some of the locations they have to go via boat and there is one particular polling station where they have to trek for around nine kilometres." LOCALS CROSSING WATERBODY LOCALS WALKING UPHILL LOCALS CROSSING WATERBODY VILLAGE PERSON STANDING (SOUNDBITE) (Garo) LOCAL, BENDINGSON SANGMA, SAYING: “We need a bridge as we have to cross the river on foot. During rainy season, we have to commute in boat. We have only one small boat, that too is in very poor condition. We have to carry everything on our shoulders to cross the river. There was a hanging bridge till 2022 but it got washed away." VARIOUS OF LOCALS DOING DAILY ACTIVITIES EXTERIOR OF OFFICE OF DEPUTY COMMISSIONER/DISTRICT ELECTORAL OFFICER ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES (EVM) KEPT ON GROUND LOCKED EVM
- Embargoed: 2nd May 2024 18:34
- Keywords: Bharatiya Janata Party India Narendra Modi Priyanka Gandhi Rahul Gandhi general election
- Location: SOUTH GARO HILLS, MEGHALAYA, INDIA
- City: SOUTH GARO HILLS, MEGHALAYA, INDIA
- Country: India
- Topics: Asia / Pacific,Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA001626018042024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: India's remotest areas on Thursday (April 18) geared up for the world's largest general elections on Friday (April 19).
Polling officers climbed hills and crossed rivers in the eastern state of Meghalaya, seeking to reach votes around the world's most populous nation.
India is set to begin the world's largest general elections on Friday (April 19), held in terrain sweeping from the icy Himalayas to humid jungles, with nearly a billion people eligible to choose 543 members of the lower house of parliament.
Opinion polls suggest an easy victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party when the results are announced on June 4.
But more than six weeks will elapse from the time the first vote is cast on April 19 until it is counted. The size of the country and its electorate is the chief reason why the general election takes so long.
(Production: Andrea Rodriguez) - Copyright Holder: ANI (India)
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