An Election Scene
Essay No. 01
Election Scene is an interesting sight. The day people go to vote for their political leaders is an exciting day. It is the culmination of months of canvassing. As the polling date draws closer, election fever rises high and the supporters of each party leave no stone unturned to ensure that the public votes for their candidate. The ruling party blames the opposition and the opposition blames the ruling party for all the ills of the country.
After all the hectic activity, usually the polling day begins rather quietly. By and large, the Indian public is politically aware and makes its choices intelligently. Large crowds are to be seen near the polling booths as people form queues to wait their turn. All kinds of vehicles can be seen in the parking lots — cars, scooters, vans, bicycles, rickshaws and auto-rickshaws.
Polling is quite brisk till evening when the crowd begins to thin out. Sometimes there are untoward incidents like booth-capturing or altercations between the members of opposing parties, and these lead to violent scenes. Then the police has to be called and the polling stopped.
In centres where polling is carried out peacefully, the ballot boxes are sealed at the end of the day and taken to the district centres for counting. Slowly the crowds disperse and people go home to switch on their radios or television sets which give the election results at regular intervals. Everyone waits eagerly for the final results to be declared!
Essay No. 02
An Election Scene
In a democracy, elections are essential to form a Government. It is a secretive method through which people elect their representatives to the Parliament.
Before the actual day of voting the candidates of various parties do everything in their power-right from offer of money to threats so that people vote in their favour and they win the elections.
Usually schools and colleges are converted into the polling centres. Voting is done usually from early morning till 5.30 p.m. in the evening. The road on both sides can be seen lined with vehicles of those who come to vote.
The polling officers have a list of voters with their name and serial number. As the voters go in, the Polling Officer verifies the voter by the particular records from the electoral roll. When verification is done he gives a roll of paper to the voter, in which the voter has to put his signature. An indelible ink mark is also put on the forefinger of the left hand of the voter as a precaution.
As the ballot boxes are placed behind a curtains the voters one by one go inside, mark the ballot paper in favour of the candidate of their choice and then folding the ballot paper they drop it into the ballot box. During all these activities the Polling Agents keep a close watch on the voters.
All kinds of people be it literate, illiterate, old men, women flock to cast their votes. After 3 p.m. the voting becomes dull and around 5.30 p.m. it comes to an end.
