Where polls are an uphill task and test vocal chords

JAIPUR: This polling booth, the highest in Rajasthan, literally shouts out every vote cast from atop a hill.

Tucked away at a height of 4,921 feet, a primary school at the small village of Uttraj in Sirohi district near Mount Abu, is the highest polling booth in the state. Teams trek 4km of hilly terrain to reach it. Its 325-strong electorate has many from the nearby Shergaon village, who walk 5km to vote.

“Special instructions have been issued for this polling booth. Only young and energetic officers are posted here. The area is out of mobile network coverage, so one of our workers climbs a hilltop to give instructions to start the mock poll or give the information on voter turnout,” says returning officer, Ravindra Goswami.


With no roads, medical or mobile phone facility, polling officers climb down from Guru Shikhar range, the highest peak of Rajasthan, to reach here a day before election. Climbing down takes half an hour but returning uphill to Guru Shikhar takes around two hours.

Equally challenging is the voters’ task. Half the voters from Shergaon arrive in Uttraj a night before polling day and return to their village the next day after casting their vote.

After completion of polling, the 11-member polling team armed with torches, leaves the village at 5pm. The area plunges into darkness soon and the journey back is in the dark, through terrain frequented by black bears and leopards. Sticks are the poll team’s defence weapons. “Local workers carry the EVMs. The view from the village is beautiful but life there is difficult,” says Goswami.