Photos: Tashigang, world's highest polling station

Elections at Tashigang are underway, the world's highest polling station, amidst the icy heights of the Himalayas.

Situated at an astonishing altitude of 15,256 feet, Tashigang is a small village perched high in the frozen Himalayan terrain.

Tashigang serves 62 voters and has been made a model polling booth in the challenging terrain of Spiti valley near the India-China border.

Located near the India-China border, the Spiti valley is part of the Mandi Lok Sabha seat, one of the four parliamentary constituencies in Himachal Pradesh and the second largest in India.

Despite the difficulties, meticulous preparations including satellite phones and runners for data relay have been made to ensure a smooth democratic process.

The polling station at Tashigang, though desolate and with limited connectivity, welcomes voters with a message of hospitality and national pride.

The yellow-coloured polling station with the tricolour painted on its front is perched high on a hill, bleakly empty.

On May 30, snowfall welcomed the polling party and security personnel, with temperatures dropping to minus 5 degrees Celsius at night.

This is the fourth time that polling will be conducted at Tashigang, which has been in the record books since 2019 as the highest polling station in the world.

The hour-and-a-half-long journey to Tashigang, located on the other side of a mountain facing the SDM's office in Kaza, is as formidable as the landscape itself -- rugged terrain, narrow winding dirt roads and unpredictable weather.