Reaching out to the electors in hilly areas is always a major challenge for the contestants as they have to travel long distances to meet a few electors when compared to reaching more electors in the plains.
A total of 104 polling stations are located in the hilly areas of Talavadi, Talamalai, Hasanur, Kadambur and Gundri in the Bhavanisagar Assembly constituency that has 66,498 voters. Likewise, 21 polling stations are located in Bargur Hills and Kathirimalai that have a total of 14,410 voters.
Sujilkarai, Kottamalam and Vaidiyanathapuram villages are located 22 km away from Kadambur while Germalam is located 42 km away from Kadambur.
“It takes over one-and-a-half hours to reach these villages where there are less than 5,000 voters. But reaching out to them and listening to their problems is a must”, said P.L. Sundaram of Communist Party of India who is contesting in the constituency. While other contestants keep themselves away from campaigning in hill areas as they can cover only less electors when compared to the plains, Mr. Sundaram and his supporters were on a whirlwind campaign covering over 40 villages in a day on Monday.
S. Mohan Kumar, District Coordinator, Tamil Nadu Tribal People Association, said that of the total 2,60,249 electors in the constituency, less than 70,000 electors live in the hill areas of Talavadi, Talamalai, Hasanur and Kadambur.
“It would take four days to reach most of the electors as many hamlets are inaccessible by road”, he added.
Many hamlets with less than 25 families are located inside forest areas that take about an hour to reach from the tar-topped road.
Makkampalayam and Gundri villages can be reached only by traversing through the forest road for over 15 km. “It takes over two hours to reach the village from Kadambur”, he said and added that reaching on foot and travelling takes much time in hill areas to reach the electors.