Braving icy heights: Elections at world's highest polling station

Tashigang is a tiny village perched high in the icy Himalayas at a staggering altitude of 15,256 feet. This village holds the distinction of hosting the highest polling station in the world.

Located near the India-China border, the Spiti valley is part of the Mandi Lok Sabha seat, one of the four parliamentary constituencies in Himachal Pradesh and the second largest in India. Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is up against the Congress's Vikramaditya Singh from the seat.

The polling station at Tashigang, serving 62 voters from Tashigang and Gete, has been made a model polling booth.

The hour-and-a-half-long journey to Tashigang, located on the other side of a mountain facing the SDM's office in Kaza, is as formidable as the landscape itself -- rugged terrain, narrow winding dirt roads and unpredictable weather.

Yet, for Prem Lal and his team of booth-level officers, the assignment carries a sense of purpose. In a place where the harsh environment shapes every aspect of life, facilitating the democratic process is both a "duty and an honour".

"I have been part of a team that conducted elections at Hikkim (also in the Spiti valley), the second-highest polling station in the country, in the past. So I have some experience," Lal said, laughing as he walked to board a white Bolero car with an electronic voting machine (EVM) in his hands.

After a brief pause, he added, "Thoda dikkat to hoga (there will be some difficulties)," acknowledging the challenges ahead, especially for those unaccustomed to such a difficult terrain with no mobile connectivity and limited power supply.

But preparations are meticulous.

"The team will get a satellite phone and runners will be deployed to relay polling data to the headquarters," Additional District Commissioner Rahul Jain told PTI. "The terrain is tough, but our teams are committed and we have made all the preparations," he added.