Forecast of a clear day over much of the hill tracts in Himachal Pradesh have improved the chances of a good voter turnout for the fiercely contested poll.
Disclosing the logistic involved for holding a free and fair poll, Narinder Chauhan, chief electoral officer said that the election authorities had set up 7,382 regular polling stations and 3 auxiliary polling stations in the State for conduct of polls.
The auxiliary polling stations set up at Bada Bangal, Jutogh and Dharampur have been set up to support existing polling states and considering the special circumstances involved, said Chauhan.
The State meteorological office has forecast a clear sky over plains, low and high hill regions but in at isolated places in middle hills there were chances of rain accompanied by thunder.
The temperature range recorded on Tuesday was Kalpa in Kinnaur had the lowest temperature at 6.2 degrees Celsius and the highest 36.4 Celsius was recorded at Mandi.
Kaa, a polling station in the high altitude region of Kinnaur, with only 17 voters happens to be polling station with the lowest number of electors registered in the state.
Given the tough logistics involved in holding an election in Himachal Pradesh, especially in land locked valleys where roads had not penetrated yet, Chauhan said “to facilitate the 478 voters registered at Kashapath village, in a remote area of Rampur assembly segment of Shimla district, the poll party has had to trek 24 kilometres to get to the place and set up a polling booth.”
In another place under Jawalamukhi assembly segment in Kangra, the polling party had to travel by boat to get set up a booth for the 73 voters living on a island formed by a dam reservoir.
Polling would start at 7 am on Wednesday and would end by 6 pm, said the chief electoral officer.
The over 100 year old Shyam Saran Negi, who was among the first voters to cast his vote in the first election after India attained Independence in 1947, is also expected to vote on Wednesday, making the a record holder of sorts by being the only person to have voted in each and every election India has held till date.
In all there are 38 candidates in the fray but the main contest is between the traditional rival parties BJP and Congress.