KOPPAL: About 200 residents in Kushtagi taluk walk a long distance -- about 8 km -- to vote.
Tavaragera, a town in Kushtagi, has three hamlets -- Gadderahatti, Allerahatti and Krishnagiri. Gadderahatti, with about 300 voters, is 8 km away from Tavaragera and has no polling booth of its own. So, voters have to trudge to the town because there is no motorable road, says Shyamanna Gadde, a resident of Gadderahatti.
There are many hamlets or tandas in Tavaragera revenue circles, which have no polling booths, forcing residents to walk on an average a kilometre or two to vote, official sources tells TNIE.
Residents of about eleven villages under Tavaragera Revenue Circle have to walk longer distances. For example, as many as 400 voters from Chikkamurtinal and Hadagali villages cover 4 km to the nearest booth in Menedal village.
Election officials say that these hamlets do not have the minimum required population -- of 350 voters -- to get a polling booth. Kushtagi Sirestedar (election section) confirms that the residents have been making appeals for more number of booths for long.
This assembly polls they may find some relief, with 53 new ones being set up in this revenue circle. Despite every hurdle, many residents here take efforts to vote without fear or favour, says a woman voter. “Only some take the transport arranged by political parties,” she says.
Boycott may work
Residents of Siddapur village, under Menedal Gram Panchayat, had to walk up to Hiremurtinal village to vote. Fed up, they boycotted the elections in 2013. This year, sources say, they are getting a booth.