The Hindu : New Delhi News : Polls video-graphed

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Friday, Apr 06, 2007
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New Delhi

Polls video-graphed

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Apart from nearly 60,000 security personnel who kept a watch on proceedings during the Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections in the Capital on Thursday, there was also a lot of electronic surveillance through video-graphers who had been deployed across the city to capture conduct of the polls.

While for the most part these video-graphers remained perched atop vehicles, occasionally they came down to shoot the goings-on inside the polling booths. And at places where there was some trouble, they spent more time taking footage of the unfolding events so that it might come in handy for the State Election Commission in the event of any dispute or allegation.

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For the young and the old alike, the MCD elections provided an opportunity to have a say in the scheme of things. At Dev Nagar, a nonagenarian woman, Mohini Devi, turned up to vote. Fed up with the prevailing water supply situation in her locality, she declared that she wanted to elect someone who would work towards providing a stable water supply.

"We want to elect an honest candidate who would work for our welfare," she declared.

The election also saw a number of first-timers going to vote and returning thrilled from the polling booth with the mark of the indelible ink on their fingers. One of them, Har Simran, who cast her vote at Tilak Nagar, said, "it was a great experience as I feel I have the power to ensure good governance in my constituency".

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For the first time, carrying of mobile phones inside polling stations was prohibited during the MCD elections. But this ended up creating a lot of chaos and inconvenience for the voters as the authorities had not made any arrangements for depositing the phones outside.

As a result, many people who had come from some distance away could not exercise their right to vote as there was no one with them with whom they could leave their phones.

And as many had decided to vote while going for work, this meant that they had to ultimately contend without having a say in the election of their candidate.

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While candidates contesting the elections had a testing time on Thursday, for students appearing for their Class XII Computer Science examination at Sister Nivedita Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya the examination paper provided a chance to get up close and personal with the polling scene.

The school played host to the MCD elections, with four polling booths located within its premises, as also the Class XII examination paper that was conducted in a room. Though normally such a scenario is avoided to prevent any difficult situation for the students, a large number of police personnel deployed at the school ensured that both the polling and the examination passed off peacefully.

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At a polling station in Vasant Kunj, a presiding officer complained that the State Government should have made some arrangements for food and refreshments for the polling staff during the daylong exercise.

"We have been sitting here since 8 a.m. in the morning and have not had a cup of tea or even water. What is worse, we do not even have a market nearby to order food," rued R. K. Manchanda.

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