The end of elections, of Desh ka Mahatyohaar, the country's biggest festival.....

The end of elections, of Desh ka Mahatyohaar, the country's biggest festival.....

My day suddenly feels empty, my mind unbusy and there is nothing much to do. Almost a vacuum as the celebrations of the largest festival of the country, Desh ka Mahatyohaar ended day before yesterday.
In a flashback , I go back three months to March 2019 when we had been called to Vigyan Bhavan to attend the training for appointment as Election Observers. The air then was full of expectations and excitement high as we clamoured to know the constituencies to which we would be going. Those who were allocated constituencies were busy discussing the best mode of travel while those kept on reserve were either joyful or woebegone.
Preparations for the largest festival of democracy began more than a year ago but had heated up over the last six months.
A festival which needed to prepare for 90 crore people in diverse geographies, with different sets of awareness and literacy, being rural and urban amidst trying weather conditions needed great acumen. Plains and hinterlands, , hills and valleys, islands or deep jungles had to be taken into consideration.
A festival which not only had to educate people about the importance of voting but also about new technologies like the use of VVPAT machines to verify their vote. And executing all this with such precision that there was no room left for complaint.
A normal citizen who comes to vote will find it difficult to imagine and understand all the the effort that goes into the conduct of smooth, free and fair elections.
The logistics are diverse and massive.
In fact the preparations for elections begin almost a year before the actual process with the preparation of error free electoral rolls by the Electoral Registration Officer. This perhaps is the most thankless job with individuals neither bothering to ascertain their names in the rolls nor making an attempt to include themselves despite the fact that ECI and Chief Electoral Officers of the states constantly advertise to ensure the same. In fact Booth level officers are appointed for the door to door survey. Yet many times citizens fail to register themselves as voters or do not bother to check their names when they shift their place of stay. They end up complaining bitterly on the day of poll. Ensuring that one's name is included in the voters list and one also votes is the primary duty of a cutizen.
The next inportant thing done by the District Election Officer is the Identification of polling stations to facilitate the process of voting. Therafter a sequence of activities keep happening . Acquiring EVMs and VVPATs and checking them thoroughly by the technical experts in the presence of political parties is not done once but twice. They are kept ready to be used on announcement of poll. The flurry of activity after the announcrment of poll is inconceivable.
The Election Commission does not have permanent staff for conduct of polls but requisitions the services of officials as and when required.
This is a mammoth task as lakhs of people are needed for every step from registration , to conduct poll, for counting and for sealing the EVMs and other records after poll.
So the exercise for requisitioning services of people to procurement of goods and election material is done by the district. Alongside are the statutory provisions for accepting nomination forms, conducting a scrutiny, accepting and rejecting nominations, making a final list of contesting candidates, displaying them on the notice board. EVM ballot unit, control unit and VVPATs are prepared in the presence of representatives of political parties. Orders have to be issued to the staff and training sessions organised  according to the roles assigned to them. The Presiding Officers PROs who actually conduct the poll at the polling booth are provided 2 trainings including a hands on training. The other polling officers trained according to their roles.
Security arrangements are made in consultation with the police.
A Transport plan is also prepared for the safe travel of the election staff and the election material.
Efforts are also made to ensure that voters have assured minimum facilities by way of water, electricity, ramp, furniture, help desk, signages and toilet. Special efforts are made for facilitating persons with disabilities, senior citizens and women. Voter slips are distributed by Booth level officer to facilitate easy location of polling booth by voters. Help desks at the polling booths are also set up.
This year the ECI took specific steps by setting up a helpline 1950, a website , www.nvsp.in, various apps like #GoVerify, # GoCall, # GoRegister, # GoVote. These proactive measures show the sincerity and seriousness of the ECI to ensure that elections are inclusive. 
Software like the ERONET for error free electoral rolls, CVIGIL citizen vigilant app to capture live violation anywhere with a facility to upload along with a brief description are revolutionary. 
The Voter helpline app which gives all information to the voter about his name, polling station, way to reach has become the 7th highest rated app. A single window system, SUVIDHA was established to issue permissions to contesting candidates in 48hours. This Suvidha portal actually became a great facility in knowing the live result trends appropriately. The information was available to everyone at the fingertips.
The counting of votes is also undertaken meticulously at the centres identified and approved by the ECI. The strong rooms are sanitised in front of the candidates or their agents and after storage of EVMs are  sealed in their presence. They are even permitted to deploy their representatives during the entire period of storage outside the strong rooms where machines are stored. Central Police Forces guard the strong roons to ensure impartiality and non-interference by the State Police.
The Election Commission of our country not only emphasised on conduct of free and fair elections but ensured that no stone was unturned to facilitate that. The task is mammoth but transparency was ensured at every level.
Aspertions about the tampering of EVMs are therefor irksome. At every step and every level political parties are requested to remain present. The first and second level checking , the preparation of the EVMs for the poll, the setting up of EVMs and mock poll at the polling booth are all done in the presence of the representatives of the political parties who are also present throughout the poll.
For those of us who work in government getting the opportunity to work at least once for elections is certain. It has been my good fortune to get the opportunity to work for the conduct of elections in various capacities as Electoral Registration Officer, Assistant Returning Officer, Returning Officer, Deputy District Election Officer and Election Observer during the last twenty-five years. Each experience has been memorable and a great learning. What the election process teaches us best is team management. The election law, rules, acts are so well-thought and perfectly written that if one reads them and follows them to the 'T' then one can never fumble.
This time as the Counting Observer for four assembly constituencies of Karnal in Haryana, I was stationed at Panipat. Observing the process in all the four assembly constituencies was possible due to efficient team management by the District Election Officer and the Assistant Returning Officers with whom I worked in close coordination. The personal touch given by each officer to increase the efficiency of the counting staff and make them work positively was clearly evident. This is possible only due to the systems set in place by the Election Commision of India  and my head can only bow in respect to the ECI which does everything possible to uphold democracy. As Kenneth Blackwell has rightly stated, " We have a system that allows us to manage a free and fair election , free of intimidation, and that's what we all have delivered on election day, and we're very very proud of it."