Cheating on polling day

DURING his stint at the Accountant General’s office in Bengaluru, my maternal uncle often officiated as the presiding officer during elections. He recounts that government employees on poll duty had to attend a briefing at the headquarters of the city council before an armed police-escorted bus ferried them to the polling venue. Back in 1980, he was sent to Government Urdu School near his residence in Fraser Town for poll duty.

He had three polling officers, including a woman, and two armed constables to assist him. The officers were under strict orders to not leave their posts. But uncle couldn’t resist the urge to enjoy home-cooked fare and the company of his loved ones. So, pleading with the cops to hold the fort until his return the following morning, he took their leave. Rules forbid poll officials from sneaking out of the camp. But many dared to do so!

Uncle rushed back to join duty early the next morning, and so did the woman officer who had also abandoned her post the previous night. The two armed policemen didn’t let their guard down, staying awake all night, but the male polling officers caught a few winks. However, the candidates’ acquaintances ensured that they were kept in good humour, as a steady supply of food and beverages was doled out. The freebies kept coming till the polling concluded!

Voting began and residents joined the serpentine queue in front of the polling booth. The morning passed without incident, but the post-lunch session threw up the unexpected. While the polling officers went about their jobs, my uncle kept a hawk’s eye on the voters. A teenaged voter aroused suspicion when he claimed that he was NJ Gokul Nath. The name rang a bell. Gokul Nath, incidentally, was my uncle’s nephew and my younger sibling. When prodded for his father’s name and residence, the miscreant gave my dad’s name and address. This lie was enough to nail him. Although he accepted his wrongdoing, the police held him in a closed room. As the afternoon wore on, the officials caught scores of other cheats and herded them into the room. The news of their arrest soon spread, and hundreds of relatives gathered at the venue to plead for their kin’s release! We believe the miscreants smeared lime juice to erase the voting ink on their finger.

Today, thanks to technology, elections have been streamlined, resulting in a faster counting of ballots, reducing the cost of counting millions of votes manually and providing improved accessibility for disabled voters. But we can’t suppress a laugh whenever we hear accounts of the bygone era.