NAMAKKAL: In a shift from years of manual transport, election officials carried voting machines by car to hill villages in Bodhamalai near Rasipuram after a road was recently laid to the area, in a first after 75 years of Independence.
Until the last Lok Sabha election, officials, with the help of local residents, used to carry electronic voting machines and polling materials on their heads through rugged hill paths, as there was no road access.
Bodhamalai, under the Rasipuram Assembly constituency in Namakkal district, has three hill villages — Keelur, Melur and Kedamalai — with a total of 1,108 voters. Of these, 827 voters are in Keelur and Melur, and 281 in Kedamalai. Two polling stations have been set up at Keelur and Kedamalai.
Following the formation of a Rs 140-crore mud road to the hills during the DMK-led government, officials were able to transport electronic voting machines, VVPAT units, and election materials by road for the current Assembly election.
Polling teams led by zonal officers Karthik and Manoharan travelled in separate vehicles to Keelur and Kedamalai, along with polling personnel and materials.
Earlier, the machines and materials were distributed to officials at the Rasipuram taluk office in the presence of the election officer, Murugan, and the assistant election officer, Sasikumar.