This Article is From Dec 18, 2012

Eleven postal ballots stuck in Himachal Pradesh due to snow

Shimla: Eleven postal ballots for the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections have got stuck in Lahaul and Spiti as roads to the region have been closed due to heavy snow, state chief electoral officer Narinder Chauhan said on Tuesday.

"The postal ballots of government employees posted in Lahaul and Spiti district were stuck due to closure of road links," Chauhan told reporters in Shimla.

He said the road link between Manali and Keylong towns has been shut due to the closure of Rohtang Pass.

"The cost of getting 11 postal ballots airlifted to Kullu would be around Rs 600,000, which is not feasible," he said.

"They would be counted in Udaipur under the supervision of micro-observers," he added.

The total expenditure in conducting the state assembly polls was around Rs 10 crore, out of which Rs four crore was the cost of security for the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), poll officials said.

Assembly elections were held in the state November 4 and the results will be out December 20 along with results of elections in Gujarat.
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