Voter turn-out highest in West, lowest in East Sikkim

GANGTOK, 14 Apr[IPR]: The Chief Electoral Officer, Sikkim, D Anandan addressed the media on Sunday at the Conference Hall of his office and shared information regarding the election which was carried out on Sunday. He informed the media that poll was peacefully conducted in all the 538 polling stations throughout the state with no untoward incidents reported.
The poll which started at 7 a.m. in the morning concluded at 5 pm in almost all the polling stations barring a few where it had gone up to 9 pm due to long queue of people after 5 pm. Further he informed that the voter turn-out in the state was 81% which is likely to go up by 2 to 3 percent after the inclusion of the postal ballots.
He further informed that the voter turn-out was highest in West at 82.94% and lowest in East District at 79.03%. The South district registered a voter turn-out of 81.77% and the North district recorded 81.38% voter turn-out. The number of female voters was slightly higher than the male voters at 81.47% and 80.48%, respectively.
Yuksom Tashiding Assembly Constituency recorded the highest voter turn-out of 85.02% where out of 11,852 voters 10076 voters cast their votes. Gangtok Assembly Constituency registered the lowest voter turnout in the state with 65.95% where out of 10051 voters 6629 voters exercised their voting rights. The CEO applauded the voters of Sikkim for having come out in large numbers to exercise their franchise and said that Sikkim has proved that it is aware of its voting rights.
The CEO further informed that 5 voting machines had to be changed out of which 2 in East and 1 in West had to be changed before the poll started and 2 in North Sikkim had to be changed after the poll had started. All the procedures and formalities were followed properly while changing the voting machines.
After the completion of the poll process, all the EVMs have been stored at the Strong Rooms of the respective districts, he informed. The strong-rooms have been sealed in the presence of the candidates/ representatives of the political parties and the observers, and is under CCTV Surveillance 24x7. One platoon of West Bengal Police Force is deployed for security of the strong room at each district and a fire engine is stationed at each strong room. Representatives of the political parties/ candidates have also been allowed to stay near the strong room to ensure maximum transparency in the process of election, the CEO added.
About 3,500 polling personnel were engaged for the election process as Presiding Officers and Polling Officers while 4250 police personnel were also involved.
The CEO, Sikkim made special mention of the effort put in by a lady Police Officer, Sub Inspector Dawa Lhamu Pakhrin, SHO Sherethang who escorted two polling parties stuck near Tsomgo back to Gangtok. Polling parties of Gnathang and Kupup were stranded near Tsomgo due to heavy snowfall and despite the inclement weather conditions, the SI went upto Tsomgo at around 10:30 pm and brought them back to Gangtok safely by 3 am.
The CEO appreciated the courage and dedication of Sub Inspector in discharging her duties. He also appreciated the dedication of the polling parties in discharging their duties.
During the press conference, the CEO thanked the political parties/ candidates for their cooperation and the help provided to the election administration in successfully conducting the poll process. He made special mention of the District Collector and Superintendent of Police of the districts and the staffs, Sector Magistrates, Flying Squads, Static Surveillance Teams, Presiding and Polling Officers, police personnel, the media persons and those who were directly or indirectly involved in the smooth conduct of polls.