KOCHI: As massive and serious polling is, for the officials who ensure voting passes off smoothly and without glitches, certain incidents on the polling day can either ease the pressure or add to it. There have been situations of the ‘dead’ coming alive and proxy voters attempting to vote for the dead.
Narrating an incident that happened way back in 2009, a former professor said, “During and before polling, a presiding officer is designated as a first class magistrate. We have a lot of power. We are driven to the polling station and taken care of well. I recall collecting the polling materials from Kothamangalam and being taken to my designated polling booth in a vehicle hired by the Election Commission.
Everything went smoothly. However, things took a turn for the worse when the entire polling process was completed. As soon as we returned the ballot boxes and other polling materials, we found ourselves reduced to a commoner status.”
The retired professor and his fellow presiding officers found themselves left to their own devices in sourcing transportation to the Muvattupuzha KSRTC bus stand.
“The heat and humidity had taken a toll and everyone was trying to get on the first bus out of town. However, the sight that awaited me was something akin to a scene from a movie on migration. The buses were tightly packed, and a huge crowd waited outside trying to get in. The saddest but most hilarious part was that when the drivers came, they found that even their seats had been taken over by the fatigued polling officers. It was a dramatic turn for the polling officers, who turned from kings to paupers in a matter of hours,” he said.
In another incident narrated by a lecturer, a voter came in appealing for a proxy to vote in his stead.
“The incident happened in Munnar during an assembly election. I was the presiding officer, and polling had been going on smoothly since the morning. There was a long queue outside the polling booth. Voters were coming in one by one. Things were going smoothly until one voter came in, bringing another person.
When questioned, the voter said that since his mother had passed away in the morning, he would not be able to cast his vote! He requested that his uncle be allowed to cast the vote in his stead. But when I pointed out that since he is already at the polling booth, he can cast his vote and go, the voter got angry and hurled abuses. All efforts to get him to understand the illegality of his request fell on deaf ears.”
The voter then left after some time without casting his vote.
According to a teacher in Nilambur, she faced a situation wherein a ‘dead’ voter turned up alive.
“We had been given a list that highlighted whether the voter is dead, absent or shifted from the place. However, in my polling booth, a man, who had been notified by the booth level officer as dead in the voters list. The voter’s arrival caused a frenzy and hectic activities. Calls were made, confirmations done, and finally, the voter was allowed to cast his vote,” she said.
For a higher secondary school teacher, her time as a presiding officer in a polling booth in a Naxal-affected area had been scary but adventurous.
“Right from the very start, we were cautioned about the possibility of an attack happening. We were escorted by armed police to the polling booth. Once there, we were greeted by posters, CCTVs, armed police, and central forces. However, the polling day went without any untoward incident,” she added.