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World’s highest polling booth: Hikkim loses to Tashigang

  • 20/03/2019
  •  The non-discrete, tiny settlement of Hikkim in Lahaul and Spiti district in Himachal Pradesh has ‘lost its tag’ as the world’s highest polling station.
  • Taking on the title will be the sleepy village of Tashigang, situated in the Buddhist dominated district— it also holds the title of being the highest village in the Spiti Valley. 
  • The Election Commission has set up a new polling station there, which is nearly 690 feet above the the one in Hikkim (14,567 feet), making the Tashigang polling station (15,256) not just the highest in the country but in the world.
  • The station, located close to the Indo-China border, will cater to 49 voters, out of whom 20 are women. Seventy-eight-year-old Rigjin is the oldest voter.
  • At present,  the village, which has only six houses, remains isolated because of heavy snowfall.