Kolkata: From encountering 'dead' voters to navigating pitch-dark school corridors, revelling in the scenic beauty of a dam to scrubbing neglected toilets, polling officials encountered an array of extraordinary challenges while conducting elections in West Bengal.
It's this effort to uphold democracy with an unwavering commitment that poll personnel strive to achieve despite the myriad obstacles coming their way which perhaps ensures that a vast and complex process of conducting parliamentary elections in a nation like India culminates successfully edition after edition.
Even as six of the seven phases of the Lok Sabha polls in the country drew to a close, PTI spoke to some polling officials in West Bengal who returned to their base to share their riveting tales.
Arup Karmakar, a school teacher from Durgapur, is one among those who spoke about his remarkable experience during the poll assignment.
"My duty was at a booth at a school in Barabani assembly segment under Asansol Lok Sabha constituency. Upon our arrival at the polling station, the entire polling party, including myself, was pleasantly surprised. The landscape, dotted by surrounding hills and a massive reservoir around Maithon Dam was breathtaking. We faced no disturbance from any political party supporters or workers," Karmakar said.
On the morning of the polling day, Karmakar even took a dip in the reservoir water.
Karmakar noticed that a herd of around 50 cows had gathered in a field next to the school in the evening, treating the space as their regular shelter. The herd had vanished in the morning, only to return after sundown.
Things moved smoothly for Karmakar and his teammates until they encountered a situation involving a 'dead man walking'.
"A man entered the polling station while voting was in progress and claimed that although his name was on the list of deceased, he was actually alive and wanted to vote. Polling agents from across political parties present at the booth confirmed the man was indeed who he claimed to be. He had all the necessary documents to prove his identity, and after verification, he was allowed to vote," Karmakar recounted.
Anshuman Roy, another school teacher stationed at a booth under the Bardhaman-Durgapur Lok Sabha constituency, discovered that washrooms in good condition were locked by central force jawans, leaving only the less suitable ones for poll officials.
"But this wasn't the end. Immediately after reaching the polling station, we were offered soft drinks by some local people and I sensed that something was amiss. The person in charge of keys to the booth was absent and when contacted, she said she was unwell and that locals would make arrangements for our food," Roy said.
Typically, women who cook mid-day meals are entrusted with the job of taking care of poll parties, including providing them with food and water. Known as the 'key holders', these women quite literally hold the key to the voting premises and, by extension, to hassle-free polls, Roy explained with an intended pun.
"Some people brought us dinner that night and breakfast the next morning. We paid for all the food. The Election Commission has funds earmarked for poll officials to avoid taking any favours from anyone, including political parties," Roy added.
On the day of the polls, the same group of men approached Roy and his team and insisted that some individuals without valid photo ID cards be allowed to vote.
"When we refused, they didn't argue but stopped providing us with our lunch or drinking water for the day. We had to complete our job without any water or food," Roy said.
Amit Kumar Biswas's poll duty took him to a remote village in the Asansol Lok Sabha seat where he found almost everything perfect, until it was not.
"Our booth was set up at Kakhoya High School with lights and fans in all rooms. However, the rest of the school compound had no lights, and the bathrooms were located in a dark corner," Biswas said.
The experience was pretty eerie as nobody could step out of the classrooms without a candle or a flashlight, he said.
Rathin Bhowmick, another polling official, had to clean toilets on poll eve to make them usable at Haripal under the Arambagh Lok Sabha Seat in Hooghly district.
"The toilets were not used for ages. When asked, the headmistress said that the school had only 40 students and nobody used them. Later some village education committee members brought a brush and some cleaning liquid with which we scrubbed the toilets," Bhowmick said.
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