-Brian Mendonça
As the nation goes to the polls to elect the members of the
lower house of Parliament, i.e. Lok Sabha, the exercise to marshal around a
billion voters merits a closer look. Here in Goa voters exercised their
franchise on 12th April. Delhi went to the polls on 10th
April, while Tezpur in Assam started it all on 7th April.
Elaborate training
sessions for polling personnel in Goa began as early as the first week of
March. During these trainings power point presentations were given by officials
explaining the duties of the polling team and the use of the Electronic Voting
Machines (EVM). Care was taken to issue Election Duty Certificates (EDC) to all
polling staff to enable them to vote where they were posted, as they would be
away from their home constituency.
On the day prior to the polls the teams were asked to
collect the polling material from the designated collection centre, check the
material and depart with security staff in government vehicles to the polling
station. Having arrived at the venue the furniture is arranged as per Election
Commission of India (ECI) guidelines to seat the first, second and third
polling officer with the presiding officer overseeing the conduct of the poll.
The EVMs are installed after connecting the control unit (CU) and the ballot
unit (BU) away from a window but with adequate light source to ensure secrecy. This
done, members of the polling team spend the night at the polling station, viz.
a classroom, and arise early the next day, i.e. the day of polling to conduct
the mock poll at 6 A.M.
The mock poll is conducted in the presence of polling agents
of the candidates to demonstrate that the EVMs are working properly. During the
mock poll votes are cast in favour of all the candidates including ‘None of the
above’ (NOTA). The total number of votes cast should be 50. The machine result
is then tallied manually; the machine memory is cleared; and the EVM is sealed
for voting to start at 7 A.M. Polling
agents of the candidates with a copy of the electoral roll sit behind the
polling officers to cross check the identity of the voters. For a period of 11
hours till 6 P.M. the polling team conducts the poll with regular reports
regarding the voter turnout and percentage of votes polled being sent to the
control room. After the poll is closed
the team completes the formalities and hands over the material to the
collection centre which can take up to midnight.
The synergy and dedication of the polling teams working with
the members assigned to them to ensure an incident-free poll is worthy of
praise – which is why when a polling team on election duty carrying teachers,
and a 108 ambulance was ambushed and blown-up in the red corridor in Raipur on
the same day (12th April) it leaves us shocked and deeply saddened.
Or does it?
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For
election updates see www.eci.nic.in; Published in Gomantak Times Weekender St. Inez, Goa on 20 April 2014. Pix. Election Commission officials seal an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) prior to the start of voting. (Courtesy - hindustantimes.com)
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