Slow EVMs, extreme heat and a lack of facilities for voters and election staff make matters worse
Palghar locals queued up to vote till 9.30 pm on Monday. Pic/Hanif Patel
While voting hours in most of Maharashtra concluded by 6 pm, in Boisar, Palghar and Dahanu of the Palghar Lok Sabha constituency, voting continued till 9.30 pm. Officials said a surge of voters towards the end of polling time and a slow rate of registering votes by the EVMs led to the time extension. Meanwhile, sources in Dahanu told mid-day that there was a lot of mismanagement at the polling booths as voters as well as polling officials had to sweat it out in the absence of fans at many booths. A voter in Vasai also collapsed due to the unprecedented heat on Monday afternoon. Since there was no stretcher available at the polling booth, the voter was lifted by his hands and legs by the polling booth officials.
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Voters had no problem waiting to vote till late at night
The total voter turnout in the Palghar Lok Sabha constituency was 63.91 per cent. As voting went on till 9.30 pm, Deputy Collector Vijaya Jadhav, who was the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) nodal officer, said that special permission was sought to extend the voting time as a large number of people came to vote towards the end of the day. “We have to allow everyone who comes into the polling centre to vote and so we shut the gate and allowed those inside to continue voting. The process was further delayed as the EVMs take time to register each vote,” Jadhav said.
Locals who came out to vote in the daytime said the temperature was soaring and everyone felt the heat. “There were no fans at a few polling booths where polling officials had to struggle the whole day. But they could not utter a word as they were government officials. Also, we could not get photographs of their ordeal as no mobile phone was allowed inside polling booths,” said Sanjiv Joshi, a resident of Dahanu.
A large number of people at a polling centre in Palghar late on Monday
According to Joshi, tents were erected but the EVMs were taking time and the queues were becoming serpentine. “Everyone could not be accommodated under the shade as the queue was long and a few of them had to stand under the scorching sun. It was a horrible experience,” recalled Joshi. District officials have, however, denied any mismanagement and claimed that everything was peacefully done. “We had made sun protection arrangements at all polling booths in Palghar,” Jadhav said.
The voters at the Bahadoli polling booth told mid-day that the voting process went on at a very slow pace. “Nearly 100 people were lined up in a queue at 8 pm on polling day,” said a voter. The district administration claimed that all polling booths were equipped with the facilities and amenities, including medical kits. “Shades were erected so that the voters standing in queues could stand under the shelter. Also, a drinking water facility, medicines and first aid kits were given to each polling booth in Palghar district,” Jadhav added.
Ashok Tiwari, who collapsed at a polling centre at Vasai, being carried away. Pic/Hanif Patel
However, despite all the facilities claimed by the district official, a 49-year-old voter Ashok Tiwari collapsed at a polling booth due to the heat in Vasai, where he had gone to cast his vote on Monday afternoon. The temperature at the Vasai’s Vartak College polling booth was around 40°C. “I have not been informed about this incident by the officer concerned,” Jadhav said.
“Tiwari is a resident of Diwanman in Vasai West. He is doing fine now,” said a polling official requesting anonymity. Palghar District Collector Govind Bodke said, “Polling at Boisar, Palghar and Dahanu went on till 9.30 pm on Monday due to excess voters who came towards the end”. When asked why the voters’ turnout data was released one day late, Bodke said, “The Palghar Lok Sabha constituency is huge and it takes a lot of time to travel from different polling stations to the assembly headquarters.”
Woman voter’s complaint
Women Muslim voters said they had to face inconvenience at polling booths in Vasai as there were no separate rooms organised for them to take off their veils to enable officials to match the photos in their voter IDs. “Though the polling booth official was a woman who asked my mother and wife to remove their hijab, there were many male colleagues seated on the adjacent table. My wife and mother felt very uncomfortable removing their hijab in a public place. But they cooperated with the polling official despite facing difficulties. Government officials should have created a separate room for women Muslim voters. This is a failure on the part of the Palghar district administration,” said Fazle Qureshi, a local resident of Vasai.
6 pm
Time to conclude voting
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