The first phase of the Festival of Democracy 2019 concluded yesterday and with it as they say the kismet of the candidates. The candidates, the bright hoardings, the rallies, the issues, the people, the EVM and the inedible ink selfies hog the spotlight in this entire set of affairs. Who said/did what, who voted for whom become the cynosure of all and it should be ; unless you do understand what its like being an election official. This was my first time being one and it did nothing to spark the love of democracy for me, but everything to admire the sheer volumes of those millions of worker bees who are directed to take time off their usual assignments. Its already impossible for us fellow Indians to queue up for anything , let alone for some wild rush of pressing a button in the sweltering heat, but what is even more perplexing is getting those slothful babus to get out of the comfort of their chair and homes for enabling the common man to decide their fate, sort of.
I was appointed as the Sector Officer(or Zonal Officer) and had 13 polling booths under me. The District Collector office had conducted a slurry of training sessions, Q&A and workshops for equipping the concerned officers with proper technical know-how for the machines and the overall procedures governing the smooth conduct of the polls. However it all comes down to the Pre poll day when amongst the huge rubble of government you actually meet the polling parties, all smiles and jokes from the outside discussing about the arduous journey they took to be here surreptitiously suggesting the innate disagreement they all carry within to this unconventional yet indispensable workload that has befallen over them. They are teachers, accountants, officers, clerks, doctors, engineers, professors rarely known to each other but its that duty order that unites them together. It is important to know that election duty is a non-optional convention which unless you can get away with some “justifiable” reason, could get you suspended almost instantly for the slightest of errors.
So even after knowing the stakes, the election training starts which is actually sitting in a giant hall and listening to the Do’s and Dont’s as patiently as you can but most of the people rely on their past experiences on these things and only come in to avoid a show cause notice. Its total mayhem on the day before polling , as people come in from almost everywhere around the city with their bags. As a sector officer you come to know your polling parties only the eve before election and help them on their way to the respective assigned Polling booths. Now these polling booths are not the most well maintained premises, mostly they are municipality schools, storage centres, colleges and/or community halls, so not the best of the facilities are expected. No matter what designation you have, its heartening to know that you can’t leave the premises even for a walk or some refreshments and that you have to sleep on the bare floor unless you got some bedding of your own.
The E-day is when it all turns real, you get to wake up early in the morning and start a mock poll, and by 7’o clock your voting actually begins where people start lining up and although are willing to exercise their votes, may fall short in identification or missing their name in the voters list altogether. But as a Polling officer- The show must go on. Then come the enthusiastic political goons, who just need to garner attention at any cost, and its for people like these the Presiding Officers have been given unlimited powers and police force at their disposal so that they could drive away any and all creating a scene. Some people do complaint about the machines because it’s a trend but take it from me who had commissioned the machines, its highly improbable to get an EVM that works in favor of some candidate, although there might be some battery or other technical issues for which the arrangements are in place already. I myself had changed an EVM during mockpoll because the VVPAT machine was running on a faulty battery but that’s almost it.
Meanwhile it’s the middle of the day and we see a drop in the voter turnout as people are busy doing their household chores and its at this point that the polling parties get a breather where they could have some food and mental rest.
The final hour is again the most crowded part of the day when people come in flocks but now the polling parties are exhausted and grow a little restless. Anyway as the duration of the poll ends there lies another arduous challenge of the statutory and non-statutory paperwork that has to be meticulous as it determines the success and failure of the polling station in your booth. The demand to be correct and the need to be quick sometime cause unexpected blunders resulting in suspension of officers but still a majority of the people do it diligently and report back to the headquarters in the evening or night. Its at this place where they really lose their minds, they have been working exorbitantly hard and now its just a formality of submitting the machines and the literature back to some other government employees, who they expect to be empathetic to the taxing task they had just completed. But truth be told, it is at this point people complaint about the mismanagement of authorities out of tiredness and disgust. After all is said and done, people do leave for their homes, although there is always that lingering doubt that everything checks out properly and that is the story of the election from an official’s perspective. I might not have the exact figures but in my personal experience the government officials involved in making the biggest democracy work in just a single day, themselves rarely vote. I think its but natural to get jaded of the entire process however they still enabled millions of their fellow beings exercise their right to vote and that’s the point. The people who actually make this festival of democracy a palpable reality are the ones who sacrifice a lot and the only thing they expect in return is their job they have been doing in the first place.
What do you think guys, I will keep creating more relatable and practical content which I come across as part of my job. Do checkout my other posts as well-
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