Remote Hamlet in Maharashtra Records Close to 100% Turn Out After Receiving Polling Booth First Time After Independence

Records show that the village’s 41 voters had a polling booth set up by the district administration; nonetheless, one voter’s name appeared twice on the voter list.

8 May 2024

By Khushi Maheshwari 

Voters in the isolated Sahyadri Hills village of Burudmal, which is 30 km from Bhor town and falls under the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency, were ecstatic to be able to exercise their right to vote at a polling place within their own village—a first for the isolated community since Independence.

According to officials, Burudmal had nearly 100% voter turnout because of the villagers’ overwhelming excitement about being able to vote in a polling place in their own hamlet, without having to travel miles or brave the intense sun or challenging terrain.

Records show that the village’s 41 voters had a polling booth set up by the district administration; nonetheless, one voter’s name appeared twice on the voter list. Voters in this area used to have to go to Sangvi village, which was 18 km by road or 14 km by backwaters of the Bhatgar dam, to the polling place where their names appeared on the voter list.

A 70 year-old villager, Gayatri Akhade, spoke about the physical struggles she faced when she had to go to Sangvi village to cast her ballot and explained how they would set out for the village at 8 in the morning and could not come back before 5 in the evening; the commuting time would make their joints pain a lot. She expressed relief to have a booth in the village itself now. 

The district administration sent representatives to the village six times to finalise the voting booth placement after the people asked the administration to establish one here. According to Gangaram Akhade, all 40 eligible voters have cast their votes, including 6 first time voters. 

Since there was an error in the voters’ list and one name appeared twice, the voter turnout came out to be 97.76 percent and not 100 percent, clarified the sub-divisional officer of Bhor, Rajendra Kachare, who had visited the village in 2019, and decided to resolve the issue to lessen the physical burden on the villagers.