AN ELECTION

AN ELECTION 

An election scene is a familiar sight in a Democratic country like India, where members of Parliament, Legislative Assemblies and local bodies are elected from time to time. They are chosen by adult persons who are given the right to vote in public elections. We have laws for managing elections. For examples, canvassing, which plays a vital role in elections, has to be closed a day before the election; voters are needed to go to the fixed polling stations to enrol their votes.A polling station (or a polling Booth) is a place where people go to record their votes. At a polling station, the voters of only a particular constituency can cast their votes. Often a placard is exhibited outside the polling station, the constituency  for which the station is meant

                         Inside the booth, a polling officer and his assistants do their work. When a voter comes in, an assistant traces out his name in the electoral roll. When he is satisfied with the identification of the voter, he puts a mark of permanent ink on the little finger of the voter. The voter then receives a ballot paper. He puts his signature on its counterfoil. With this ballot paper, he is asked to go to a closed corner where a stamp and an ink pad are available. The voter stamps the ballot paper against the name of his nominee. Then he folds the ballot paper as needed and puts it into the ballot box through a hole on its top and walks out. Nowadays, Electronic Voting Machines (E.V.M.) have been proposed. Here you have to push a button, and your vote is cast.The fundamental part of an election is accomplished inside the polling station. But its active and pretty role is seen outside the booth. At a distance of 100 meters from the box, agents of several candidates contesting election put up their tents. They issue identify slips to those voters who come to them. A volunteer of the particular agent helps the voter reach or enter the polling booth.This area outside the polling station presents an exciting and exciting scene, about like that of a village fair. There are, of course, neither merry-go-rounds nor giant wheels nor shops to attract women and children. Instead, we have the tents of polling agents; but they are furnished with colourful buntings which give the environment of a festive look. There are the hustle and bustle all round here. People, particularly women, can be viewed in their most suitable clothes, gathering together talking and gesturing. Some tents have long rows of voters standing in front of them to receive identification cards. But there are also other tents which present a deserted look. To complete the show, there are also policemen posted at all necessary points to guide the people and keep law and order.Seldom disputes also break out. For example, the identity of a voter is challenged, and it is an occasion for argument. In such a case, which is called “challenging the vote”, the presiding Officer hears both the parties of the dispute and decides whether the voter is to cast a vote or not. Sometimes a person represents a voter and casts a vote in his place. If he is caught red-handed, he is handed over to the policemen for action.Sometimes great rowdyisms are Enacted. The supported of two participants sometimes come to blows and seldom even to bullets when one group or another indulge in mischief. The supports or goondas of a losing candidate try to temper with a ballot box or run away with it.On the entire, an Indian election scene is a quiet one, which is true, a great thing because India is a vast country with a large number of voters.