Several polling stations in the twin townships were staffed entirely by women. This meant that the presiding officer and three polling officers at these booths were ladies. But while the work was empowering, the women felt the system had much room for improvement.

“I’ve done election duty before in Malda, but the Salt Lake experience was way better. Most of all, I’m grateful that we got an air-conditioned room,” said Anindita Paul, a CA Block resident who was the presiding officer at the State Bank Institute of Learning and Development centre in HC Block. She recalled seeing several others on poll duty fainting in the heat at Bidhannagar Government College, where they had to report the day before for formalities.

Women officials with their EVM and other equipment before entering the booth at the National Dairy Development Board in DK Block

The heat was unbearable for those at the National Dairy Development Board in DK Block. “The elections ought to be held in a different season with better weather. One of our pedestal fans stopped working in the middle of the day and we suffered,” said Anindita Sil, the presiding officer at this booth.

EVM snag

But spoilt fans were the least of the ladies’ worries. “Our EVM malfunctioned, not once but four times,” said a presiding officer in the Karunamoyee area, asking not to be named.

“The first time, an engineer came to fix it, but after that, she was busy fixing EVMs elsewhere and our voting got stalled for long durations. We informed the sector officers, who asked us to fix it ourselves, but we refused as we were told during training never to enter the ballot unit. There was much altercation with the authorities,” says the teacher. As if the EVM issues weren’t enough, the webcasting camera at this centre stopped working halfway through the day too.

The ladies attended three training sessions before D-Day but they were not enough. “The trainers simply showed us videos on how to use the machines,” said Paul, who teaches at a government school in Rajarhat. Sil had to consult a friend who had worked at multiple elections earlier to learn what the trainers could not teach. “The trainers told us frankly that they knew only as much as we did, and so would not be able to clear our doubts,” said the ED Block resident.

Lack of infrastructure

The women had to spend the night before the polls at the booth itself and a presiding officer at Sri Aurobindo Institute of Education (SAIE) said they had a tough time sleeping on the floor. Some had brought blankets from home. Food was an afterthought and Paul says they had to, unwillingly, accept food and tea from party polling agents stationed inside the booths. “All restaurants were shut on the day and the Election Commission wasn’t going to arrange our meals,” she shrugged.

Sil’s team got clean washrooms but their rooms were dirty, with no furniture. “We had to manage with long, narrow tables like the ones used by caterers. But they would collapse if we so much as rested our arms on them to write. The tables had to be tied with cloth strips to be kept upright. And they had nails sticking out that ripped our clothes,” she said.

Another problem was the EVMs that were too heavy for the ladies to lug around. “We had to carry them from the college to booths, up and down the buses that were provided. It was back-breaking and the CRPF jawans were not allowed to touch them. This rule should be changed,” said Paul. “I saw polling officers with heart and nerve problems struggling to move these machines about.”

For what it’s worth

Despite the hurdles, the women received positive response from voters. “Once in a while, they questioned our authority but overall they were encouraging,” said a teacher who lives near PNB Island and who had duty at SAIE. “I was surprised at how many voters needed the process explained to them. Not just first-time voters; even senior citizens were confused by the EVM. Some waited indefinitely inside the ballot unit, expecting a receipt of sorts to slip out of the machine!”

Sil observed that the voters skewed towards the elderly, coming either with walkers or companions. “We worked so hard but the youth are just not interested in voting,” she sighed.

The women did what they had to but none was happy about it. “Who wants so much pressure? And the process is needlessly confusing and tedious. If we had laptops we could have done it all faster,” said Paul. “Still, we’re lucky to have been appointed for Lok Sabha elections. I can’t image all this stress during a panchayat election, that is over and above everything, dangerous.” Voters of both Salt Lake and New Town would agree.