Booth has just five voters

Hyderabad, April 14: Five tribals of Choudelu in Warangal district used to see a helicopter landing right in their hamlet once in five years.

The choppers would bring men and poll material either on the election day or just a day before. Located in deep Maoist-infested forest, the Choudelu polling station has the lowest number of voters among 60,000 polling stations in the state.

However, this year the five voters will be transported to a nearest polling station instead. “It was very uneconomical and hence we decided to bring these five voters to Sarangapur instead of taking the entire machinery to them. We will ensure that they return safely to their village as well,” the Chief Electoral Officer, Dr I.V. Subba Rao said.

There are 61 other remote and inaccessible polling stations in the state and the authorities have been taking polling staff and material either through choppers, bullock carts or boats. There are some places in Khammam where the polling staff and the police need to walk for 10-15 kms. In these places, the voter strength is between 25 and 100.

Khammam has highest number of 17 inaccessible polling stations followed by Visakhapatnam with 15 and Adilabad 11.