Learning from neighbor (REPRODUCTION)

BY Tashi Wangmo

Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh:  She is one among the scattered groups of people forming queues outside the classrooms of a public school. Dressed in an orange kurta, Kiranjeet Kaur (name changed on request), 55, is here to exercise her inviolable right as a citizen of the largest democracy in the world. She is here to cast her vote.

“I am going to vote for the Congress,” she says. “I have always voted for the Congress and have complete faith in the party.”

Kiranjeet and the other voters are comfortably oblivious of the oppressive 40 degree heat that is baking the Bhutanese media team that has come to observe the elections.

Drenched in perspiration, though, the mountain media group is excited by the prospect of witnessing a real voting process and observing the second phase of polling for the State Assembly.

The team is in Ghaziabad, a district of Uttar Pradesh about 35 kilometers south of New Delhi, with a population of approximately 1.2 million.

To the Bhutanese, the very mention of voting in India immediately conjures up images of huge crowds, chaos and potential conflict, and the group did feel some heat in the waiting as it set out to Ghaziabad.

The lurking violence was further heightened by the conspicuous presence of heavily armed paramilitary soldiers and local police at the polling booths.

A day earlier, the Deputy Election Commissioner, Mr. J.P. Prakash, had told the team during a briefing that security arrangements were made from the center to ensure that local security would not be biased.

India has altogether 27 parties, including independent candidates, with some party symbols looking rather absurd but the intent the team was told was for easy recognition by the illiterate lot.

A fan, an axe, a cupboard, a clock, a liquid petroleum gas cylinder, and a television are among the large array of symbols that contended with the bigger parties like the Congress, BJP (Bharatiya Janta Party), and BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party).

And in contrast to the team’s misconceptions, the polling process was smooth, professional and well organized.

At the top of the structure are the District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police. They are linked to the officers at the booths by Zonal and Sector Magistrates. The booth is managed by the presiding officer and his four assistants. All these officials are drawn from different segments of the civil service.

The presiding officer and his assistants come to the venue, mostly schools and community centers, a night prior to the polling and have to sleep there. The Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) has replaced the ballot box and officials say the system is absolutely foolproof. The voting procedure is ditto to what people in Bhutan are being familiarized with at the moment.

The presiding officer of one of the booths, Mr. Suraj Bhan, is a manager from the State Bank of India. “I stay at the polling booth for two days and ensure that the polling goes smoothly. The work is tiresome but so far we have had no problems at all,” he said.

Each polling booth caters to about 1,000 to 1,200 voters and is set up within a radius of less than two kilometers of the voters.

Smooth as it was, there was one glitch, however, which seemed to surface in almost all the booths – a glitch from which the Bhutanese could perhaps learn a valuable lesson. There were always one or two people who were turned away because they were not registered.

“I have come here to vote which is my right and I am not being able to,” complained Sandeep Sairin, 32, an engineer by profession.

The sector magistrate explained to us that people either did not bother to register themselves despite repeated notifications or had changed their area of residence. The lesson: get registered, now.

Close to collapsing, the Bhutanese media team observed and absorbed so much in such a short time. And that is a rare opportunity because media is not allowed inside the polling booths.

The team was fortunate to have the Assistant Magistrate and the SP of Ghaziabad take time off from their busy schedule and talk to the team on polling process.

The election process in India had changed to the level of becoming foolproof because of the introduction of the EVM and additional security measures, according to them.

(The tour was arranged by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs through the Indian Embassy in Bhutan. bhutantimes.bt, April 22, 2007)