Polling parties for two snowbound inaccessible polling stations of the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat, Skumpata Gongma and Skumpata Yokma, were on Monday flown in a helicopter of the Indian Airforce (IAF) from the district headquarters of Leh. The Ladakh polls are scheduled to be held on 6 May, in the fifth phase of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections 2019.
Leh Deputy Commissioner Avny Lavasa was present at the IAF station to see off the polling parties.
Eight polling stations in Ladakh have been identified as “inaccessible”. A special training was conducted for these polling parties before dispatching them to their assigned locations.
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A Mini-Marathon was organised in Leh last week to persuade the electorate to exercise their right to vote.
The DC urged the electorate to exercise their franchise and vote sensibly on 6 May without fear and influence. He appealed to the students to become ambassadors of this voter awareness campaign and spread maximum awareness among their friends, families and neighbours.
Spread over Leh and Kargil districts, the Ladakh Lok Sabha constituency is geographically one of the largest in the country, though it is one of the smallest seats when it comes to population.
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The constituency has 1,56,888 voters in all — 85,763 in Kargil and 71,125 in Leh districts. Of them, 79,432 are men and 77,456 are women.
The Ladakh polls will see the main contest between BJP’s Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, Rigzin Spalbar of the Congress, and Independent candidate Sajjad Hussain. Local Kashmir parties National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have not fielded any candidate in Hussain’s support.