Tashigang, the world's highest polling station at a height of 15,256 feet, saw a 100% turnout on polling day today as votes were polled for the Mandi parliamentary constituency in Himachal Pradesh.
Tashigang, a village near an ancient monastery in Himachal Pradesh, is the highest settlement in the Spiti Valley near the India-Tibet border with just 47 registered voters.
Enthusiastic voters came to the polling station dressed in their traditional attire despite temperatures dropping to a chilling minus 16 degrees, officials said. Even the Presiding Officer and the Polling Officer were draped in the traditional dress of Spiti.
A creche was arranged for young children at the polling station and food was distributed among the voters, the officials added.
"I am from this village. We all should vote. I am very happy that I have played my part in a democracy by voting," said Tashi Chonjom, a first-time voter in Tashigang.
Another first-timer and a resident of the village Lobajang Ishe said, "Voting is very important and is the basis of democracy."
The village acquired the distinction of becoming the highest polling station during the 2017 state Assembly elections by replacing the erstwhile poll station Hikkim - at an altitude of 14,400 feet and 160 km away - due to technical reasons, according to officials.
The first voter of independent India, 104-year-old Shyam Saran Negi, also cast his vote at the Mandi parliamentary bypoll in the state's Kinnaur district.
The bypoll to the Lok Sabha constituency was necessitated by the death of two-time BJP MP Swaroop Sharma. Bypolls were also held to the three Assembly segments of Fatehpur, Arki, and Jubbal-Kotkhai in Himachal Pradesh today.
A close electoral contest is expected in Mandi between Kargil war hero Brigadier Khushal Singh Thakur of the ruling BJP and Congress candidate Pratibha Singh - the wife of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh.
Six candidates, including Ambika Shyam of the Rashtriya Lokniti Party, Munshi Ram Thakur of the Himachal Jankranti Party, and independents Anil Kumar and Subhash Mohan Snehi, are in the fray in Mandi.
The counting of votes for the Mandi Lok Sabha seat and the three Assembly seats will be taken up on November 2.
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