KARWAR: While the Election Commission might say that voters should not have to travel more than 2 kilometers to find a polling booth, their plans hit a solid forest wall when it comes to Uttara Kannada. 
Dominated by thick green cover, the district has several polling booths, to reach which, voters will have to trek several kilometers. Hundreds of voters in many hamlets located on hilltops of Karwar, Ankola and other taluks will make this journey on 23 April to cast their votes.

At Hiremani, in Ankola taluk, voting will entail a 10 kilometer trek to Sikli village, from where the voters can hitch a motorbike ride or hire a tempo to take them to Hattikeri village, where the voting booth is located, 30 kilometers away. 

“Most times there are no bikes or tempos, people end up walking till Hattikeri. People who find a vehicle are lucky. Our village doesn’t have basic facilities like electricity supply or water, forget roads,” quips Mani Gowda, a resident of Hiremani. Elsewhere, at Machalli, residents will have to trek 7 kilometers, while crossing two hillocks to reach Mudaga and cast their vote. The village, which falls under Karwar taluk, also has no basic facilities. When it rains, even trekking becomes impossible as overflowing streams block the way. 

It is not just for voting that residents are forced to trek. The journey is almost a daily affair with schools, grocery stores and even ration shops located far away from these hamlets.  M Roshan, the CEO of Uttara Kannada ZP said, “There is a rule to set up polling stations within 2 kilometers of a village. But here, many are located in forest areas and this poses a problem. The department is doing its best to address these issues.” 

So dense is the forest cover that even for villages which fall under the Karwar City Municipal Council, roads are a distant dream. Parvati Gowda of Guddalli, one such village, said, “There are no roads and no vehicle can reach my village. We have only electricity.”