Although the electronic voting process has been completed in Goa, ballot counting is still pending. The future of all candidates has been sealed and the machines lie manned by security personnel in strong rooms. The government machinery is put to test by Election Commission of India, ensuring a fair election process. The alacrity at which the otherwise lax government servants issue circulars, letters and show-cause notices for those who don’t pay heed to the demands of ECI, is commendable.
This attitude by the authorities may also be due to the impending strict actions under several sections of IPC that one may be tried with, if s/he falters in duty. If only such an attitude had to prevail consistently, people would not deem any government process as ‘long and cumbersome’. The involvement of people from various government offices, selected at random and then combined in myriad permutations and combinations to form polling teams, helps to ensure miniscule probability of any kind of malpractice that the government servants may connive if they were under normal circumstances. Here, people themselves act as hawk eyes to prevent any misdeeds.
There is little to know about the working of the allotment process of election duties to various personnel. My instinct says it must be happening via a non-human intervention through a computer algorithm. This is more likely, as an algorithm is an efficient way to manage such huge volumes of data viz. names of people, place of work, voting details, etc. As the algorithm is devoid of feelings, it does not care if a person from Canacona or Sanguem has to report to Valpoi.
The statistical probability of a driver meeting with a road accident is high, especially if the fatigued person after an election duty drives long distances. But human brains cannot fathom the depth and power of statistical data. The physical hardships ensued due to such an allotment has to be borne by the govt servant. People expressing displeasure are silenced by a barrage of rules that one has to abide being a government ‘servant’.
If this wasn’t fair then think about those people, elderly and young alike, who have health problems. There is little doubt that some health problems are tailored and spun by those who want to distance themselves from such an energy-demanding, responsibility laden duty. The reasons for the fright can be infinite. This brings to mind an episode wherein an employee who was assigned election duty pleaded for exemption by producing medical certificates, but to no avail. As a last resort, a medical examination by the competent authority deputed by CEO revealed the grave health concern that prompted them to dial 108. I don’t blame the authorities, if they were lenient, then one would have seen queues for duty cancellations. Furthermore, Swacch Bharat campaign adjectives such as ‘eco-friendly’, ‘plastic-free’ go for a toss. A conservative approach is needed to limit the paperwork involved.
Finally, I must also admit that conducting elections in the world’s largest democracy is a tough job. In spite of the above highlighted shortcomings, one must wholeheartedly appreciate the zeal of common citizens serving at the designated places.
