While I stood in line almost half an hour in advance excited to be given the right to choose my representatives in the parliament and assembly, I couldn’t help but feel a heady sense of patriotism run through me.
On entering the hall to cast my vote I notice the EVM(Electronic Voting Machine).
It seems pretty old technology considering the new age of smart phones , LCD touch screens and other well designed hi-tech gadgets that have flooded our life with new possibilities.
The volunteers working seemed to be slightly skittish around the technology- scared of breaking it maybe?
All experienced gentlemen and women who have been trained in operating the EVM’s from the past 2 days were ready for the voters,armed with the manuals of the EVM meticulously arranged on the table,and the voters list and ink bottle in their hands.
Being a first time voter, it seemed quite strange to me when there was an error in operating one of the EVM Machines.
The Error? -“PADU NOT CONNECTED”.(I have no idea what that means-nor did they 😉 )
The official sitting at the polling booth seemed exasperated every time the error showed while people shouted out suggestions like “Check the connections!”,”Restart the process”, “When my washing machine doesn’t work, I just unplug it and plug it again”-pointlessly stating the obvious-to a hassled volunteer who is trained to operate the machine.
You would expect the volunteers to go through the manual at least once to aid their ability to use the machine!
After one and half hours and countless re-booting of the machine(with people shouting about wasted time and blocking the entrance from the officials unwittingly),they realized that they had closed the ballot accidently before the procedure of voting had started-the irony of it all!
This being the situation in my polling area, I later find out that Chiranjeevi -Actor/Politician tried to jump the line to cast his vote but was stopped-and rightly so-by an ordinary citizen-while he was cheered on by the rest of the people in line.
My thanks goes out that one person who reminded the actor that he was a mere citizen in the eyes of the law and that he CANNOT cut the queue.
My request to everyone who is eligible to vote-
Allow physically handicapped and senior citizens to move ahead of you in line.
Do not cut polling queue-other people’s time is just as precious as yours!
HAPPY VOTING!
