On May 4 the headlines of two leading newspapers caught my attention. The Indian Express headline said, ?Election Commission eye now on candidates poll expenses? the news which followed the headline stated that the Election Commission was scanning the accounts submitted by candidates for poll expenditure. If the Election Commission was questioning the poll expenditure of candidates who had contested election, Times of India supplement?the Mumbai Mirror?the newspaper familiar with the pulse of Mumbai was also questioning the Election Commission on the money spent to provide amenities for polling staff on election duty. In the headline, Just where did the money go, the newspaper voicing the anguish of the large polling staff deployed for Election duty wanted to know where did the Rs 7.5 crore provided for facilities for polling staff in just two constituencies go, as a large number of polling staff were not provided with even the basic amenities like drinking water.
The Election Commission?the ostensibly formidable Constitutional Authority as it presents itself to the public, I was of the opinion that people would have reservations questioning the accountability of this seemingly powerful symbol of democracy. But Mumbai Mirror raising the pertinent question as to why the tax payers? money was not used to provide even the basic facilities to the polling staff reiterates my faith in the fearlessness of the media. The nearly one lakh polling staff deployed for grueling election duty in Mumbai city and the suburbs were forced to work in miserable conditions. The worst hit were the women deployed for Election duty. I should know best because I was appointed as the Presiding officer for Election Duty.
I was asked to report for the first day of poll duty training on April 12 at the Andheri Municipal School in D N Nagar. I live in Chembur, a Central suburb in Mumbai, whereas Andheri is a Western suburb. Having to travel from one end of Mumbai to another was sheer torture, to say the least in the April heat. If the Election Commission had even the slightest concern for its polling staff they would have at least given us training centers located at a reasonable distance from our residence or our place of work. We were asked to report for duty at 10 am. My colleagues and I reached exactly at 10 am. But the training session started at 11.30 am, which meant that we had to unnecessarily wait for one and a half hours. We were asked to be seated in a classroom meant for primary children. The benches were so small and uncomfortable our legs could hardly fit in them. One of the trainers threatened us that if we commit any mistake even if the mistake was not committed deliberately strict action will be taken against us. He hinted that our regular jobs could be in jeopardy if any error was discerned.
Throughout the training programme there was no proper arrangements made for food, even if we wanted to buy food with our own money there were no canteen facilities in the training Centers. The polling booth to which I was assigned, had an asbestos roof with broken chairs and tables. As for the toilet it was so dirty that we women polling officers dared not step into it. Yet the Election Commission expects us lady-polling staff to bear it all and perform our election duties diligently failing which we would be booked and put behind the bars under the People'sRepresentative Act. So we were told.
Now that the heat and dust of the election has settled down other lady polling staff who were subjected to ordeals worse than mine are pouring out their scary experiences to leading newspapers. Teachers? resent raw deal on Election Duty, was the headline of a news-item published by the DNA on May 4. RD National College Chemistry Professor Indu Shastri says that she was pulled out of her paper correction duties at Mumbai University to attend training sessions for polling officers. Sessions scheduled for 9am would start at 3pm she complained. The day before the poll a fifty-year-old asthma patient was made to wait for six hours in a makeshift tent at a returning office in Jogeshwari to collect the EVS machine and stationary. No water, food or toilet facilities were provided. On the same day she travelled to Goregaon to set up the poll booth. At a school in Nare Ambegaon there was only one toilet to cater to 150 women who were posted there for polling duty. One of the lady polling officers was posted in a polling booth which had no proper toilet facilities, since she was suffering from heavy periods. She spent nearly Rs 100 for commuting by auto to her friends house to use her toilet. The question that almost all lady-polling officers including me are asking is, why is the Election Commission treating us worse than animals. The Indian Express on May 1 published the trauma of Vaishali Sathe who was forced to spend the night inside a temple at Tamini village in Mulshi. At 8.30 pm the electricity went off. I was scared and witless, she says. Another teacher was put up at a villager'shome, I had to sleep in the courtyard and was bitten by mosquitoes all over, she said. The Election Commission threatens lady polling staff with criminal action if they do not stay overnight at the polling booths before election starts. Sunanda Tai, the women activist from my area Chembur Pestom Sagar is appalled at such threats.
If you do not report to poll duty your posts will be suspended and you will be jailed, this is how the Election Commission threatens us, says a lady professor from MMK College claiming anonymity. When I referred this matter to Geetha Gunde the activist who has been relentlessly fighting for women'scauses, Gunde was of the opinion that this should be brought to the notice of the State Women'sRights Commission. But firebrand activist and lawyer Flavia Agnes, however, has a different view, what can the Women'sRights Commission do? She thundered over the phone. Continuing further she said, those affected should take it up directly with the Election Commission a PIL has to be filed said Flavia Agnes.
An RTI has to be filed to scan the budgetary allocations of the Election Commission, to expose the irregularities of the Election Commission in providing facilities to women on poll duty and to the physically disabled voters.
The Election Commission assumes more power than it has or is supposed to get, admitted that free and fair elections of the worlds largest democracy is a responsible job of mammoth proportions. The approach and conduct of administrating General Elections 2009 in Mumbai and its suburbs however has led to a sizable number of the public being frustrated with the Election Commission. Needless to say no autonomous institution constitutional or other wise has been kept aloof from political pollution therefore in the event political parties across the board are seeking to undermine, destroy and use for political gains the office of the Election Commission for vested interest.
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