At booth 111 of Salvation Army HSS at Kowdiar, in Vattiyoorkavu constituency, the all-women team of polling officials has not had time even to have their breakfast.
"Forget breakfast, we have not been able to take a breather. Polling has been brisk since morning and the queues were getting so long that I too pitched in to help my team. We are all doing poll duty for the first time, It was a nervous start but exciting too. So far there have not been any snags and everything has been going smoothly, the presiding officer Shanti, an AG's office official, said.
At the Salvation Army HSS with four booths, polling had been brisk since morning and people waited patiently in long queues to vote.
At 1 p.m., booth 71 at Cotton Hill HGSS in Thiruvananthapuram constituency wore a deserted look, except for people coming in ones and twos to vote. There were no queues..
"There were huge crowds right from 7 a.m but began dwindling past 12," the presiding officer of the women-friendly booth, Shirley, a lecturer at Government Women's College, said.
"I have done election duty before too, but in remote areas with scant facilities and where toilets were scarce. The rest of my team are first-timers and this time, I think all women-booths have been set up in locations with all facilities like toilets, fans and lights.
This is a good initiative by the District Collector and the responsibility weighs heavily on us. But this is nothing that women cannot manage and we are very confident of wrapping up the process on our own,” she said.
This is the first time that “women-friendly” booths where the entire poll processes are fully managed by women, have been set up for Assembly elections. These booths are also manned by women police personnel.
As many as 32 such booths have been set up in four constituencies – Vattiyoorkavu, Thiruvananthapuram, Nemom and Kazhakkuttom – in the district.
“Our real work starts right after the polling finishes at 6 p.m., when we have to take all statistics, complete the processes, seal the voting machines and entrust it safely to our Returning Officer. I have to admit that we are a bit nervous, this being our first time, but I’m sure we will manage fine,” Sindhu, a Central Excise official and the presiding officer at the women-friendly booth at Arya Central School, Pattom, in Vattiyoorkavu constituency, said.
Facilities for the disabled
For the first time, wheel chairs have been provided in all booths to help elderly and the disabled. First aid kits and drinking water have been provided.
“Senior citizens and the physically disabled have been given the utmost care. There are no separate queues for them, but we made sure that all physically unwell elderly persons and the disabled were ushered straight away to the polling officer as soon as they came,” a booth-level officer at RKD HSS at Sasthamangalam said. One wheel chair has been provided for every booth, he added.
Heavy polling had been recorded in almost all of the polling stations in Vattiyoorkavu constituency. At RKD HSS, a large number of youngsters – all first-time voters – had turned up to vote. The constituency reportedly has the largest number of new voters at over 18,000, he said.
