A single Indian voter casts ballot in special forest booth

A Hindu monk, the only registered voter in the polling place, ensured a perfect turnout on Tuesday by casting his ballot deep within an Indian forest-protected area.

In order to set up a voting booth in Banej, where Mahant Haridas Udaseen is the only resident, poll workers had to cross the Gir forest, the last remaining natural habitat of the endangered Asiatic lion. India is currently experiencing the largest democratic exercise in its history and has vowed to reach every voter, regardless of where they live.

“The fact that a team of 10 people came here in the jungle for just one voter shows how important each vote is,” the 42-year-old told AFP, holding up a finger marked with indelible ink to show he had voted.

This year, over 968 million people are eligible to vote, and according to electoral laws, each voter must be no more than two kilometers (1.2 miles) from a polling place.

To ensure the priest could cast a ballot, polling officers in Gujarat had to go for two days, including a lengthy and uneven bus ride on rough forest roads.

Udaseen arrived to the booth before midday, covered with sandalwood smears on his face and dressed in a saffron robe, but according to election commission regulations, the booth must remain open until the evening, even in the absence of any other people for miles.

The law also requires each polling booth to be helmed by at least six polling staff and two police officers.

“In a democracy, every single person is important,” said Padhiyar Sursinh, the presiding officer in Una, a town 65 kilometres (40 miles) away from Banej.

“It is our duty to ensure no one is denied his right to vote even if it means undertaking an arduous journey like this,” he told AFP.

The party traveled for over three hours in intense heat that reached as high as 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), before arriving at a voting place that was set up at a distant forest department office.

Sursinh and his group spent the night in the claustrophobic structure, sleeping on floors and consuming a basic dinner of bread and lentils.

“We had to set up everything a day in advance so that the booth could be opened early morning at 07:00 am according to the electoral rules,” said Sursinh.

“There’s no cellphone network, so there is no room for errors here.”