Geetanjali Krishna: Driving away democracy

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When we went to vote in our South Delhi colony this Monday, we were pleasantly surprised by the arrangements. Tables upon tables of election officers, orderly queues of voters and the general air of briskness - the process of democracy looked rather impressive and civics-textbookish.

All this was in total contrast with the last general elections, when we voted from Mirzapur constituency.

In Mirzapur, chaos prevails even at the best of times - so when it is election time, life virtually comes to a halt. The first thing the district administration does in there on election day, is to stop all movement of vehicles inside the town. Which means a huge inconvenience for people who want to exercise their franchise.

An Allahabad resident who worked in Gopiganj decided against voting because polling was on different days in the neighbouring constituencies. "I thought to myself that even if I were able to take a day off to go and vote in Allahabad, I probably wouldn't manage to reach my polling booth because of the traffic restrictions," said he.

The long walk to the polling booth also deters many shy village women from going to vote. Last elections, many women I met didn't go to vote because the booth was too far from their village for them to go alone.

That's why its not uncommon to see all the women of a village being herded like cattle by village elders all the way up to the polling booth - who then tell them whom to vote for.

Unlike in South Delhi, where we saw more polling officers than voters, voting booths in Mirzapur and the surrounding rural belt, presented a totally different picture. There was chaos as crowds upon crowds of determined voters walked as long as three kilometers, to vote.

Even in Varanasi, during the recent general elections, people had to walk a long distance to reach polling booths. A ninety year old man, obviously very keen to vote, actually arrived at the polling booth lying on a charpai, as he was unable to walk.

Mnay people were disgruntled because after they'd taken the trouble to reach their polling booths, they found they couldn't cast their vote at all. Many of our friends found, during the last general elections, that their names were no longer on Mirzapur's votor's list, even though they'd lived there for years.

Since most had lived there for years, and had always voted from the same constituency, the only reasonable explanation they could think of was that someone didn't want them to vote at all. Many villagers found to their dismay after standing in the voters line for an hour, that someone had already thoughtfully cast a vote in their names.

"All in all, elections in Mirzapur show how democracy dances to a totally different tune in UP's badlands, " said some friends of ours, who found themselves stranded far from their riverbank home, when the district administration restricted town traffic on election eve.

On pleading with the police to let them pass, they were told that they would have to take permission from the SP himself.

Finally, feeling rather ridiculous, they rented a boat to take them across town. "Although the district administration had imposed a curfew like state in town," said they, "on the river it was business as usual."

The district administration says that the ban on vehicles is necessary to ensure orderly polling. But all it does is immobilise law-abiding citizens who want to vote - while mischief-makers make the election process move any which way they want.