New Delhi:

The ability to praise or see the positives is on a decline, noted Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar, adding that the trend of criticism (ninda ras), on the other hand, is on the rise. The comment comes in the backdrop of the Opposition’s questions over the voting machines.

Speaking at the NDTV ‘Indian of the Year Awards 2024’ on Friday, Mr Kumar said even though conducting the elections can be logistically challenging, the voters of the country are capable of resolving all issues in a peaceful manner.

“What surprises me, positively, is the resilience of the Indian voter… this country can resolve all its issues peacefully through the ballot, not the bullet… This is the biggest satisfaction,” he said.

As several polling personnel were honoured with the NDTV ‘Indian of the Year Awards 2024’, Mr Kumar said it is the “presiding officers who keep the democracy alive”.

“There are 10,50,000 booths in the country. Each booth comprises around four to five presiding officers. This makes it around 50,00,000 fellows. And who are these people? You’ve seen them – they are teachers, Anganwadi workers, officials from the agricultural department… people are pooled from various departments,” the CEC said.

He said the entire country’s workforce is at the service of the poll commission during the elections. “We are a team of 500-600 people in the commission. During the elections, we become 15 million…,” he said.

The top official of the polling body explained how the presiding officers are “randomly” deputed to various polling booths across the country, in the presence of political party leaders and their agents, to avoid allegations of bias.

“The world’s highest polling station is in Himachal Pradesh. In the opposite south, there is another huge part of India… in the west, you have the desert, and in the east, you have the wettest place in the world, where we have the polling station. The machine (EVMs) works in the desert, under zero degree temperatures, under moisture-laden conditions… So long as they (polling personnel) are there, Indian democracy is absolutely in safe hands and perfect,” he said.

Opposition parties have often accused the poll body of bias and raised doubts over the functioning of voting machines. After losing the Maharashtra elections last month, the Congress alleged lack of transparency in the electoral process and manipulation of the voting machines.

The Supreme Court, recently, disapproved of repeated doubts raised over the voting machines, berating the tendency of political parties to raise doubts over their functioning whenever they lose elections while conveniently accepting the system when they win.

Mr Kumar also lamented that despite efforts, voters in cities continue to avoid turning up at polling stations on election days. While Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur and Naxal-affected areas have witnessed high turnout, “people in cities do not vote”, he said.

Despite several initiatives by the polling commission, voters in Bengaluru and Gurugram did not turn up in large numbers at the booths, he added.

Colaba in Mumbai, Mr Kumar said, registered the lowest turnout in the recently-held Maharashtra assembly elections. “But I am sure, urban apathy and youth apathy will also be taken care of in times to come,” he said.

New Delhi:

They cross glaciers, lug electronic voting machines up mountains on their backs, and work in dangerous areas to ensure every last person can cast their ballot in the world’s largest democracy. Polling booth workers have, fittingly, been honoured with the title of NTDV’s Indian Of The Year in the 2024 edition of the network’s marquee event.

Receiving the award on behalf of the polling booth workers were Radha, a poll worker from the Velachery Assembly segment in South Chennai, Antiya Minz, a booth-level officer from Palamu in Jharkhand, Rahila Rafique from Khansahib Assembly constituency in Jammu and Kashmir, Suraj Singh, presiding officer from Losain in Jammu and Kashmir, T Rama Rao, presiding officer from a booth in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Tikaish Kumar Sahu, presiding officer from Kanker district in Chhattisgarh and Chelo Lima, presiding officer from Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh. The representatives included a transgender polling officer. 

Speaking about the challenges that polling workers face while organising elections, Mr Sahu, who was working in Kanker district in Chhattisgarh said they trekked through dense jungles and had Maoist drones hovering above them.

“Conducting elections in our polling booth is fairly challenging. We had to leave home three days before the elections and were dropped to a Border Security Force (BSF) camp in a helicopter. We then had to trudge through dense jungles for 5 km to reach the booth. When we were walking to the booth, we could see Maoist drones observing us from above. But we had security cover and we managed to conduct the election successfully, registering a voter turnout of 71 per cent,” he said. 

Antiya Minz from Palamu in Jharkhand, who also helped conduct elections in an area affected by Maoist violence, said she and her colleagues spent a lot of time educating villagers about the importance of their right to vote. 

“We had to travel 20 km to reach the booth and cross streams using all available means, including tractors,” she said. 

Boats, Helping Tribals

Presiding Officer T Rama Rao from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and his colleagues had to use a boat to get to their polling station in Dugong Creek. 

“We face challenging terrain and it is difficult to reach polling booths but the administration and the Election Commission helped us. The area is home to the particularly vulnerable Onge tribe. I already worked as a teacher in a school in the area and the administration and tribal welfare department helped us reach every tribe. They don’t have much experience casting votes because they only do so for general elections. Voting using EVMs is also a tough task for them. But we saw a voter turnout of 94%,” he said.

‘Inclusion Key To Democracy’

Transgender polling officer M Radha from Chennai said inclusion is key to a successful democracy and that she has been working to ensure that more transgender voters exercise their right.

“The Constitution provides equal voting rights to all and the inclusion of transgender voters has become the need of the hour,” she said

Suraj Singh was part of a polling party that had to trek 17 km to get to their booth in Jammu and Kashmir’s Losain, crossing forests and glaciers. 

“We had to cross glaciers and pass through areas with sliding zones and shooting stones. Snow was falling and there was no electricity in our booth. Language was also a challenge, but we still managed to conduct polling successfully,” Mr Singh said.