(Banej) Deep in the Gir forest, in western India, a Hindu monk voted Tuesday in a polling booth specially installed for him, the only voter for miles around, for this election in which more than of 968 million voters.
Published at 8:30 a.m.
Abhaya SRIVASTAVA
France Media Agency
The largest democratic exercise in the world, spread between April 19 and 1er June, India’s general elections are governed by laws guaranteeing that no voter is more than two kilometers from a polling station.
Election officials from the state of Gujarat made a two-day journey, including a long and bumpy jeep ride through the Gir forest, the last natural habitat of the endangered Asiatic lion, to install this voting booth and allow Mahant Haridas Udaseen, a 42-year-old monk, to vote.
“The fact that a team of 10 people came here in the jungle for a single voter shows how important each vote is,” the monk commented to AFP, showing off his index finger marked with a line of indelible ink, proof of your vote.
Mr. Udaseen is the caretaker of a temple dedicated to the Hindu deity Shiva, located near a crocodile-infested river. He settled there in 2019 after the death of his predecessor.
The monk, dressed in a saffron robe and his forehead smeared with sandalwood powder, presented himself before lunch at the polling station, installed in a forest department office in Banej. “I love the attention I get as a lone voter in the forest,” he admits.
More than half a million people visit this forest each year in 4x4s to try to spot leopards, jackals and hyenas. But it is above all the Asiatic lion, of which there are only around 700 individuals left, that visitors seek to observe.
“the power of democracy”
“It testifies to the power of democracy, it makes me feel like the most important person in the world,” continues the man of faith.
According to the rules of the electoral commission, the polling station had to remain open until the evening, even after the sole voter on the list had voted.
The law also requires that each polling station be manned by at least six electoral agents and two police officers. “In a democracy, every person is important,” agrees Padhiyar Sursinh, an electoral agent who traveled 65 km from the town of Una to be there.
“It is our duty to ensure that no one is deprived of their right to vote, even if it means undertaking a journey as arduous as this,” he emphasizes.
We had to drive almost three hours in 40°C to Banej. Mr. Sursinh and his team spent the night in the forest department building. They dined on a simple meal of bread and lentils and slept on the floor.
“We had to prepare everything a day in advance so that the office could be opened early from 7 a.m. in accordance with election rules,” explains Mr. Sursinh. “There is no mobile phone network, so no room for error here. »
Almost 2000 km away, in northern India, it is the freezing cold that a team of electoral agents will have to brave to allow the constituency of Tashigang to take part in the vote, in the mountains of State of Himachal Pradesh. At an altitude of 4,650 meters, they will then install the highest polling station in the world.
