Polling day in Gujarat was rather dull for the media — it just came and went. The national headlines the next day screamed one word: peaceful.
We do not take ‘peace’ as an achievement, we take it for granted. Voter turnout was average and the heat, above average. Gujarat’s faith in democracy was retained.
The ease with which voters exercised their franchise on Thursday last week needs no special mention. The poll dynamics changed due to delimitation. Communication technology, human strategy, meticulous planning, pre-empting problems and, above all, strong teamwork by the election commission made this possible.
As Gujarat voted nonchalantly, the second floor of block 7 of the new Sachivalaya worked 14 hours a day for two months. DNA spoke to chief electoral officer Anita Karwal.
Poll planning and preparation
We conducted an elaborate ‘vulnerability mapping’ of polling booths in the state. We started out akin to the 2007 assembly election, but I realised it was not going to be effective enough. So, for two entire days, I did nothing but interact one on one with all collectors, four at a time, to make them understand the precision required in mapping. This exercise helped and, in the end, it was done well.
Antisocial elements were identified and various preventive measures were enforced. Each electoral officer was given a few seats to monitor minutely. I was in constant touch with each and every seat.
The ECI asked every state to prepare a communication plan of appointing one person for every booth. In all, 5,200 zonal officers were appointed, each monitoring 10-15 booths. We went a step further. BSNL mobile phones with serial numbers for sending coded SMSes in emergencies and to keep in constant touch were given.
The election team
The support team here is very good. Additional chief electoral officer Ashok Manek has been here five years and the deputy CEO, for 10 years. They are extremely dedicated; even if I missed something, they wouldn’t. The collectors formed another source of support. Most had been part of the 2007 election, which helped.
Major challenges
There were indeed a lot of challenges. The first was electoral roll revision. Till March 30, the rolls were either being revised or updated. I kept my fingers crossed. We had to be careful about not including too many voters or decreasing too many, for fear of political contentions.
The second was arranging for staff inside the polling booths. We needed 2.13 lakh government employees, randomised! Training and assigning responsibilities was a mammoth task. No one knew where each was going till the morning of the polling day. Randomising the electronic voting machines was another task. It had to be done thrice.
Unique initiatives
The change in constituencies because of delimitation was a big concern. People were unclear about where they were to vote, mostly in urban areas. We created facilitation centres, while 800 college kids, hired on contract basis and trained by experts, sat with laptops at polling booths with details of where voters and residential societies were reassigned.
Posters for reference were put up in each assembly constituency. The collectors wrote letters to presidents of housing societies, updating them about the changes.
Political parties in Gujarat
My experience is that political parties here are quite mature. They have their issues, but they deal with them well, unlike in many other states.
14-hour work schedule
The past two months were gruelling. Since March 1, we have worked without a single day off, for 12 to 14 hours a day. On weekends, we worked in a deserted Sachivalaya. My 20th marriage came and went. I was attending to representations of political parties and simultaneously teaching my younger daughter biology as she prepared for her SSC exams.
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