24 polling booths for 13,700 isolated voters in islands, forests

The biggest group of isolated voters are on Bet-Dwarka, three kilometres in the sea off Okha and is part of the Devbhumi Dwarka Assembly constituency. The island that can be accessed only by a boat has five polling booths for 5,605 registered voters.

In the same constituency, a similar polling station has been set up for Ajad Island that lies in the Gulf of Kutch, about 10 kilometres from the coast.

Shiyalbet is another island in the Arabian Sea that has five polling booths for 4,757 voters. The island lies near the Pipavav port and is part of the Rajula constituency. A team of 50 election officials will be camping on the 75-hectare island on the polling day.

For the first time, the Election Commission will be setting up a polling booth inside a shipping container that will enable 217 voters of Aliyabet—an island in the Narmada river—to cast their votes for the Vagra assembly seat. Earlier, the voters used to travel 82 kilometres to reach the polling station.

Similarly, Rathada Bet, an island in the Kadana reservoir has 712 voters. The only way to reach the singular polling station on the island is through a boat. There is no telecom connectivity. This polling booth that is part of the Santrampur seat has been selected as one of the “model polling booths” for the state elections.

Among the isolated polling booths located in forests, the biggest congregation of voters—2,193—are in the three polling booths of the Kutiyana assembly seat in Porbandar.

Similarly, three polling booths (part of the Talala assembly seat in Gir Somnath) have been set up for the Siddi community who are descendants of East Africa and arrived in India as slaves between the 14the and 17th centuries. A singular polling station has also been set up for 121 tribals of Narmada district who are voters of the Dediyapada assembly seat. The most well-known of the polling booths in Gir Sanctuary is the one set up at Banej for a single voter who is part of the Una seat.

Similarly, in Gir Forest, a second polling booth has been set up for the 42 voters of Raspa Ness Liliya.

66 pc polling booths in rural areas

Of the total 51,782 polling booths being set up for the Gujarat assembly elections, about 66 per cent (34,276 booths) are in the rural areas, said Chief Electoral Officer P Bharati on Friday.