Quite a few voters as well as polling personnel were in for a pleasant surprise on Friday when they entered what was designed as ‘model polling stations’.
The model polling stations were all decked up with rows of floral hanging, making the voter feel welcome and important. At some places like Srinagar Colony, voters were greeted with roses after they cast their vote. There were helpdesks at hand, and student volunteers offering guidance to the voters and helping the differently-abled with wheelchairs.
No serpentine queues were noticed as people, armed with voter slips, strolled in to cast their vote and left in minutes. Not many glitches related to EVMs were reported from model polling stations either. But quite a few voters who came to the model polling stations could not find their names in those stations and were asked to go elsewhere.
Thanks to the direction of the Election Commission to choose some polling stations in every district as model ones, Hyderabad district had 15 model polling station and an equal number exclusively for women.
For many voters, the ambience in the model polling stations turned out to be refreshing. “We cast our vote feeling happy because of the ambience and courteous volunteers and polling personnel,” said T.R.S. Trivedi, a citizen. “I entered the polling booth carrying voter slip, cast my vote and came out in about five minutes. There was no waiting time,” he said.
Two booth level officers A. Ramadevi and Chandrakala at the model polling station — Government High School on Raj Bhavan Road — said they were lucky and happy to have been designated to the well ventilated and spacious station equipped with all facilities. They were also the lucky ones who got their breakfast, tea and lunch served on time unlike their colleagues at some other polling stations.
Shiva Ram, a polling station presiding officer in Khairatabad Assembly constituency, admitted that many were amused at the way the model polling stations were decked like marriage pandals. Facilities like wheelchairs, shade for voters standing in long queues, chairs for the aged to sit till their turn came were available at almost every polling station, whether model or not, he added. Two young college girls, Priyanka and Chandrika, impressed with the decor, came to the polling station on Raj Bhavan Road to click selfies after casting their vote elsewhere.
The exclusive women polling stations in many places, however, proved to be misnomers as they were neither earmarked for women voters nor were manned by all-women polling officers in many places.
While the polling station in the newly renovated Government High School with aid from Cyient Foundation looked as good as any corporate school, presiding officer Anupama said the polling station was not for women voters alone. It, however, had an all-women team manning the station. The special polling station for women at Srinagar Mahila Samajam at Srinagar Colony did not have even one female polling officer. Men were found manning it as the designated women officers reported sick and abstained from duty.
