Want to know what makes elections in India by far the freest and fairest and why many countries in the world want to emulate India’s electoral system? Here’s how it goes on in a small Chhattisgarh village, Kelabadi. Blow up the picture a few thousand times, and we will arrive at a pan-India picture. Read on for more.

Foremost among the factors that has made polling almost tamper-proof and rigging-free is the checks and balances system put in place by the election commission of India (EC). Right from the moment a polling party walks into its designated polling booth to the casting of the last ballot, there are at least a few hundred government officials (known as election observers), magistrates and police personnel who ensure that the electoral process is free of all external influences, glitches and malpractices.

No posters, bills, banners and buntings of political parties are allowed within 100 metres of polling booths. All written slogans and symbols are either covered with white papers or whitewashed within the periphery. The only promotion material left untouched is slogans and posters of sarv shiksha abhiyan (SSA) and voter awareness programme.

How polling booth, and area around, is made sacrosanct
Even booth-level officers (BLOs), who have replaced political parties’ desks and are supposed to distribute voting slips to all voters in their respective booths before the D-day, are allowed to sit under a tent outside the 100-metre periphery. The BLOs are either municipality employees or anganwadi in-charges who, more often than not, know voters in their area by their first name. They are held accountable for updation (addition and deletion of voters) of voter lists.

On election day, no person or vehicle – not authorised by the EC – would be allowed in the 100-metre boundary area. The security personnel would also not allow gatherings of more than three persons. This is in contrast to the reality earlier, when voters used to collect their slips from desks of political parties set up outside the polling centres and would then be obliged to vote for that same party.

Training of polling officers
The district administration, which reports to the EC during the election period and becomes eyes and ears of the state election officer, is responsible for proper training of polling officials and their transportation from the district headquarters to the respective polling centres. For this, the administration is authorised to acquire even private vehicles.

Generally, a polling officer undergoes at least three days of training, though in practice most election staff has conducted several elections. The local administration is supposed to provide drinking water, bathing, toilet and other basic facilities to the polling parties.

The first task of the polling party – comprising a presiding officer, it his three polling officers (1, 2 and 3) – is to cover every board (including blackboards) and poster in its designated polling room, close all the windows and ensure there is proper lighting and furniture (four chairs and five tables) available in the room. The polling party is not supposed to venture out of the polling station under any circumstances till voting is over.

Security drill
In polling stations, considered sensitive from the security point of view, a team of security personnel reaches the place before the polling party. It establishes a bunker close to the entrance, deploys guards on roof and in other directions. A senior security officer is assigned the charge of each booth. The security team does not accept food and water from outside and is supplied breakfast and meals cooked in its own mess.

Security officials even carry their own beds to the stations.

The polling centre is provided a flex banner, which prominently displays the assembly constituency’s name and number, booth numbers housed in the polling station and also toll-free helpline number of the district authorities. A local police officer visits the booth a day before polling to check that everything is in place.

Mock drill & SMSes
Ten minutes before voting starts on D-day, the presiding officer and his/her team carries out a mock drill to see that electronic voting machine (EVM) and its control panel are in order. Political party agents are called in to oversee and approve of the process. The officer is provided with a SIM and supposed to send a text message to inform his higher-ups the moment the first vote is punched.

At the end of voting, he again sends a text about the number of votes polled in his centre.

Actual process
The presiding officer is the first to face voters in the booth. Once he ticks a voting slip, polling officer no.1 will match the photograph on voting slip and the electoral rolls; officer 2 applies indelible ink on the index finger of voters, while officer 4 handles control of the EVM.

The EVM is switched on and off after punching of every vote.

All voting slips are recorded and matched with the number of votes polled at the end of polling. The EVM gets sealed after the polling gets over, and the presiding officer signs off on the final tally.

Various government officers/observers placed at different hierarchies visit the polling booth during voting for inspection and record their observations in writing.

Pamphlets explaining the voting procedure are pasted outside the booth. In case a voter still has difficulty in punching his vote, the polling party members can explain the procedure with the help of literature available with them. Under no circumstances are the members are supposed to go inside the cubicle hidden behind a cloth and housing the EVM.

Women and men are asked to stand in separate queues. They are not allowed to come close to the door and are stopped outside the corridor. Ideally, the polling booth should have separate entrance and exit but that is not practically possible as rooms in schools, where voting generally takes place, often have single doors.

Only a blind and infirm voter is allowed to be accompanied by a second person. But in such cases, the companion is supposed to fill up a form meant for the procedure.

Generally voting begins at 8 am and goes on till 5 pm. But in special circumstances (like in the case of Bastar and other Maoist-affected areas of Chhattisgarh), polling is allowed between 7 am and 3 pm, only leaving enough time for safe transportation of the EVMs.

On average, a polling centre enlists 1,000 voters. Nine hours are considered more than adequate to complete voting of this number.

Polling parties are supposed to include a woman officer to ensure that no one misuses a burqa to cast bogus vote. In case there is no woman officer, the polling officer can ask the voter to uncover a suspicious person’s face and also seek help of anganwadi in-charge to ensure correct identification.

Parties of election observers can be seen frequently inspecting polling stations and their surrounding areas during day and night before and on the day of voting. This has scared candidates from distributing liquor, money and other doles to their voters before the polling.