My Election Duty as Zonal Magistrate in Panchayat Elections Author Dr. K.S. Kang

My Election Duty as Zonal Magistrate in Panchayat Elections

Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

If my election duty in Panchayat elections 1998 was the most difficult duty of my career then this duty was as easy as a cake walk and there are several reasons for it. In 1998 Panchayat elections I was given the duty of Returning Officer and he had to do everything in the polls right from issuing the notification of  the polls to the declaration of the result of Ward Panchs and Sarpanch and the election of Upsarpanch. And in this election I was in the supervisory job of a Zonal magistrate. Secondly regular staff of Government of Rajasthan in 1998 was on strike so the administration of that time was entirely dependent for conducting the polls successfully either on the employees of Central government like RAPP, Income Tax and the  like or on the employees of autonomous bodies like Municipal committees, Cooperative Societies, Sainik School and  other autonomous bodies So this staff was not trained like regular staff in conducting the polls as it had no such experience. So they had to guided constantly. Thirdly technology had also improved with the betterment of infrastructure facilities like electricity and EVM had replaced paper ballots atleast in the Sarpanch polls. Lastly area given to me in this elections was just outside the municipal limits of the town. The first village of my zone Manpura was the village whose half territory came in municipal limits while just after crossing a road the rural area began. My headquarter was to be at village Semalpura which was hardly 8 kms away from the district headquarter and from here the four lane National Highway to Kota began.

            My zone had seven polling booths. Three polling booths were in the village Manpura while the other four booths were at Semalpura and I was to stay at Rajiv Gandhi Kendra at Semalpura. In fact a new panchayat of Manpura was created for the first time by including the surrounding villages like Suraj Pole, Sirdi and the like. In this poll I was delighted to be introduced to young, active and dynamic lady officers. First of all the head of the school at Semalpura was wife of my colleague. She was very active and everybody praised her for doing a lot for the cause of education particularly women education. Then the subordinate revenue officer was an active lady from Jaipur she was quite active and dynamic in her area and the welfare of the villagers and common man was her topmost concern and the police officer was also a dynamic lady who controlled the situation quite swiftly. There was not much to do as every information was to be provided by Returning Officers. In my zone there were two panchayats Semalpura and Manpura for which polls were held. Everything went off peacefully on the poll and counting and the results of Panchs and Sarpanchs for both the panchayats were announced and we were free by 11.00 p.m and went to bed by midnight. Next day was the election of Upsarpanchs. People of Semalpura acted semnsibly by electing the Upsarpanch unanimously while there were two candidates in fray in Manpura. As Panchayat elections are known for local issues that increases its sensitivity and enhances the stress. In the election both candidates got 6 votes each. As it was a tie so lottery was taken out. One of the candidate had brought seven ward panchs in his vehicle so he was damn sure of winning it. But as it was a tie so lottery was taken out and in that the one was declared as winner. As winning candidate did not belong to that village so police thought of sending him to his home first. So the supporters of other candidate, who belonged to the village thought that their candidate has won, so they started celebrating but when the truth dawned on then that their candidate has lost the election they tried to create some ruckus. Taking precautions Sector Police Officer phoned Police headquarters to send Quick Response Team so that the polling parties can wind up their work peacefully and they could be transported to district headquarters safely. This team did a flag march in the village so as to restore peace and harmony and polling parties reached safely and after depositing everything we came to our respective houses though it was 9 p.m in the night when I reached my home.            

Election Duty-2019 Author; Dr. K.S. Kang

Election Duty-2019

Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

            In 2019 I was given additional charge of Drawing and Disbursing Officer of Government College Bari-Sadri. In fact the order had come in the last week of December 2018 and I assumed my additional duties in February 2019. So my name went in the list of the staff of Government College Bari-Sadri to the election office as a result of which I had got my duty in Khermalia Sector in Bari-Sadri legislative assembly constituency. As this place was near Bari-Sadri so I did not make any effort to get the place of duty changed as I had some official business to dispose before the colleges closed for the Summer Vacations. As these elections were held in the month of April which was quite a hot month in Indian summers. So I went to the villages allotted to early in the morning and used to come back to Bari-Sadri by afternoon and then used to rest in the staff room of Government College building at Bari-Sadri or at the residence of my colleague and by evening I used to return back to my headquarter village named Khermalia where I was expected to stay at Rajiv Gandhi Sewa Kendra building of the village. The headquarter where I was supposed to report was SDM office at Bari-Sadri.

 My zone was almost circular in shape starting from Bari-Sadri. After proceedinf from Bari-Sadri on Chittorgarh road for a couple of kilometers a road branched eastward bringing me to the first village of my zone Ambavalli. Polling booth was in the primary school of the village that was situated in the centre of the village. Moving further northward came the adjoining village Kiratpura and continuing the journey in the same direction came the third village of my zone Luharia where I met one of my student who was working as a guest faculty in the school. From this village after coming on gravel trail and traveling on it for a couple of kilometers came anther pucca road and moving northward on it and then turning towards East came the village Paraliya which was a large village of my zone as it had two polling booths. Moving further Eastward from here came my headquarter Khermaliya. Polling booth was in the village school while my headquarter and staying arrangements were in Rajiv Gandhi Sewa Kendra. Jus tooutside the village road again branched in two directions north and south. Moving towards north came the village Sirod while moving in the South came the village Bhagal. From Bhagal moving southward moving for a couple of kilometers brought you  to a village named Linkoda on Bari-Sadri – Nimbahera Road and moving westward from Linkoda after four kilometers came Bari –Sadri.

Besides performing other normal duties as required of a zonal magistrate the additional duty that was given to us was to take the mechanic of EVM and VVPAT along with us. So I took a person working as teacher with me in my vehicle on the polling day. Everything went normal on the polling day but in the evening this fellow proved to be useful as after the polls one polling party was unable to detach VVPAT from EVM as it was to be packed separately. He helped them in doing it thus providing a great relief to the distressed polling party and equally distressed presiding officer.   

Election Duty in 2018 Author; Dr. K.S. Kang

Election Duty in 2018

Author: Dr. K.S.Kang

My next election duty as Sector Officer/Zonal Magistrate was at a place nearly 50 kms away from district headquarters with the name Raja ji ki Mandpiya. After getting pre poll training in various articles of Indian Penal Code Criminal Code. The peculiar thing of this area was that the office of Returning Officer was at Begun nearly 60 kms East of district headquarters while the office of Assistant Returning Officer who was of the rank of SDO was to be at Gangrar which was north of district headquarters nearly 20 kms away from district headquarter on Chittorgarh-Bhilwara Road. So most of the time Zonal Magistrates of this zone were either rushing to Begun or to Gangrar for the meetings. There were seven villages under my zone- Jeevanayak ji ka Khera, Jawasiya, Badliya, Mandpiya, Kartiyas, Naya Talab and Motliyas. After taking my vehicle I proceeded on national highway connecting Chittorgarh with  Bhilwara. After crossing the town of Gangrar and crossing the Toll Plaza of the highway a road parted east that came to the railway crossing. After crossing the rail line proceeding further eastward on the road connecting Gangrar- Mandpiya-Sadas for a couple of and kilometers a road branched southward bringing me to the first polling booth of my zone in the school building of the village Jeeva Nayak ka Kheda. According to Election records this village was a sensitive polling booth as it had recorded more than 75% polling in the last elections So there was to be a micro-observer also along with the polling party. Micro observer will report directly to Central observer of the constituency who are normally senior IAS officers. There is one observer for each constituency and one observe is to keep watch on the expenditure incurred by political parties and candidates in the canvassing procedure. After returning back to Gangrar-Sadas road and moving further eastward came the village Jawasiya which had two polling booths. After keeping moving on the same road further Eastward a road branched southward bringing us to the village Badaliya. After coming back to the road connecting Gangrar-Sadas in the East came my headquarter Mandpiya which also had two polling booths. It was a big village and I was supposed to stay at Atal Sewa Kendra which was changed to Rajiv Gandhi Sewa Kendra after BJP was ousted and Congress came into power after these elections. It speaks about the futility of changing the name of the same building twice by two major political parties of the country without adding much to it. After surveying my staying arrangements and meeting the BLO Mr Shaitan Singh who was Social Science teacher and influential personality of the village I proceeded to see other villages of my zone. Just outside Mandpiya a road branched westward bringing me to Motliyas. From her moving northward I came to Naya Talab the whole village was situated on the hillock. Moving further on the same path I came to the last village of my zone Kartiyas.

In this election government came up with two new concepts besides micro observer and that was Sector Police Officer who would assist Zonal Magistrate in maintaining law and order situation in the zone and the next was a machine known as VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) to enhance the credibility of EVM’s. We were given reserve EVM’s and VVPAT’s  one day before the polling. As VVPAT’s were sensitive machines so most of the VVPAT’s did not work properly in the morning during mock poll that created panic among the presiding officers. But then some body found solution to it by shaking it up and rebooting the machine and every Presiding Officer flowed suit and the machines started working normally and the polls began comfortably. During the polls there was some trouble in Jawasiya village that an unwanted crowd had gathered near the polling booth but the situation was handled quite efficiently by the Sector Police Officer. Besides performing other functions of Zonal magistrate like assuring minimum facilities at the polling booths, observance of model code of conduct by the concerned candidates and polling parties, escorting the polling parties safely to the polling booths from district headquarters, to check the poll preparedness of the parties and escorting them back to district headquarters safely after the polls and of course to provide relevant and essential information in various formats the poll went off peaceful  by and large.           .

My First Election Duty as Zonal Magistrate in Rural Area Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

My First Election Duty in Rural Area as Zonal/Sector Magistrate

Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

I got intimation on phone from Election Department of the district that I was to report for pre poll training of Zonal/Sector magistrate at a particular place on a particular date and the area of my duty would be intimated after two day’s training. In the training I came to know that the Zone allotted to me consisted of ten villages and my headquarter was to be at a village named Sehanwa, roughloy 8 kms from district headquarters and that too in the building of village Senior Secondary School. After that training I was given a vehicle early morning one day and asked to physically verify the polling booths of my sector. I though of seeing my headquarter first of all so I told driver to proceed towards my headquarter Sehnawa village. On the way a Jeep coming behind us was trying in vain to overtake us but as we entered the village and stopped to open the gates of the school this jeep following us hurried entered the compound of the school and out of it four pople jumped out of it and and ran towards the school building to open the rooms. As I came out of my vehicle a lady came towards me heaving a sigh of relief “ Oh. Sir, it was you” as she knew me as she had worked with my father in a private school. She continued her utterance ‘Oh, we thought that it was vigilance team from Education Department that ensures that the schools open at right time and we were fully convinced that if this vehicle reaches the place before us the whole staff will have to take half day leave “. Out of curiosity I asked her what they do if vigilance team reaches before them. She took out a bunch of papers from the drawer of her table that contained undated leave applications signed by the staff members. After having tea and snacks with the staff of the school and verifying the polling station I proceeded towards my zone that stated with the village Chauthpura on the southern side. Road southwards from Chauthpura brought us to a crossing from where a road branched in western direction and after a couple of kilometers came Raghumnathpura. After returning from Raghunathpura to the crossing on Chauthpra – Sawa Road and moveing for a couple of kilometers southward came another junction and again the road branched  but this time in Eastern direction bringing me after a couple of kilometers to another village Meeno ka Kanthariya. After again returning to main Chauthpura-Sawa Road as the road moved Southward came the village Cheeksi which was a large village as it had two polling stations. From village road diverged northward after passing through the town of Sawa that brought to the last village of my zone on the Easter side whose name was Banasti. From Banasti while coming back from the village Raghunathpura there was a kutcha path of about three kilometers that brought me to the village Bilola and from Bilola moving westward I came on Highway connecting Chittorgarh with Udaipur via Managalwar and just after crossing the road and moving northward came the village Devri whose school was to be the polling booth and moving further northward just on the outskirts of the town was the village Rithola and two kilometers westward for a couple of kilometers after passing through the village Rithola came a school situated on a hillock that was to be belonging to the village Thukrawa and this school was the last polling booth on the western side of my zone. From Rithola  proceeding southward brought us back to Sehnawa and proceeding northward of it brought me back to the district headquarters. In this election we were sent thrice to our zones to ensure the strict observance of Model Code of Conduct by the concerned candidates and political parties. Luckily I got the same area in the nest elections and the BLO’s and Heads of School were almost the same I had no difficulty in conducting the polls whatsoever. I easily completed all the work required of a Zonal magistrate like assuring minimum facilities at the polling stations, vulnerability mapping of the area, escorting the polling parties to the polling stations before the polls and bringing them safely to the district headquarters after the polls and providing essential and relevant information in various formats and proformas from time to time and doing other formalities like filling up the Logsheet of the allotted vehicle as drivers are totally dependent on us. So by the time every document is deposited it is nearly midnight that I was able to return back home.        

My Election Duty as Reserved Zonal Magistrate Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

My Election Duty as Reserved Zonal Magistrate

Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

Before coming to my experience of working as a Zonal Magistrate in rural area I would like to relate my experiences of  the duty of Reserved or Non-functional Zonal Magistrate. I was given such duties twice once at Doongla and then at Bhupalsagar. In the beginning I considered myself as fortunate at getting reserved duty but soon the enthusiasm frittered away after the first pre poll training as everybody’s property is no body’s property so no body cared for us or gave attention to us. Then there was a great atmosphere of uncertainty as the reserved duty can be converted into active one any moment and then you don’t know the area that you will be given as it will be totally new and its problem unknown and territory unseen  by you. Even we had to struggle to get minimal transport and staying facility at our destination. On the day polling parties were proceeding towards their polling stations the reserved zonal magistrates were asked to sit in a tent. As parties were going in their vehicles we watched them go sitting in the tent whole day. When evening was about to set I approached for the vehicle and they gave one vehicle and that too Tata Magic between two Reserved Zonal Magistrates. I was put together with one of my another colleague Dr. Deva Ram, who taught Economics in Government College Nimbahera. Driver of the vehicle was instructed to leave us at Government Senior Secondary School Dungla where we had to stay and then report to the SDM office of Dungla.  An interesting anecdote happened during this election, as we were starting for our destination one person, who had missed his bus as he was late requested us to take him also as he had to report to his Presiding Officer before night otherwise he mayhave to face disciplinary action.  As his station was on our route so we took and his luggage into our vehicle as he was also a government servant. Then I collected my bedding from my home and set out for our destination. After leaving this fellow at his polling station we reached our destination by evening. At the school we found that two polling parties were already staying in the school . We were given a room where we put our luggage and opened our beddings and slept for the night but in constant alert mode as we were expected to put our mobile phones on and charged as we could be called at any time at a moment’s notice. It was a time of uneasiness, uncertainty and stress. Time was passing very slowly but I had a good discussion on variety of topics with my learned friend. However in the morning the polls began and I and my colleague went out to have some breakfast and by then we were assured that perhaps now our services will not be required so we heaved a sigh of relief. After the polls were over we tried to contact the vehicle by which we had come but to our dismay we came to know that that vehicle had gone back to the district headquarters the moment he had dropped us here. So we came back on the vehicle of the polling parties that were staying in the school and reached district headquarters  

My next such duty was at Bhupalsagar. This time I was put with my another colleague from my own college Mr. Dharam Pal Goyal, who belongs to Haryana and worked for some time in IIT Kanpur and teaches Chemistry at my college. This place was roughly 50 kms from the district headquarters. In this duty after the usual pre poll training that is boring, repetitive and monotonous and waiting in the tent or the whole day in the tent in the atmosphere of uncertainty we were given the last vehicle that departed from district headquarters that brought us to out destinations. Our staying arrangements were made in the building of Committee room of Panchayat Samiti at Bhupalsagar. In the room there was a circular tale with chairs with a clear cut division between treasury and opposition benches. So I opened my bedding for the night on opposition benches while Prof. Goyal put his bedding on the treasury benches. Main difficulty that we encountered during this duty was getting proper food though Bhupalsagar was a town know for its Sugar Mill that became defunct now. Sometimes we had to walk even three to four kilometers to come to some hotel on Highway to get food. On the polling day al the hotels were closed. However we manged some ready made edibles for that day. The only relief was that the polls passed peacefully without needing our services though as usual time passed slowly and uneasily but we used to go on long walks to spend our time. After the polls we took the vehicle of polling party and came to district headquarter. There is so much uneasiness, tension and uncertainty in this duty and sometimes it appears that to have an active duty is better than to be in reserved duty atleast you know your destination and territory.           

My Election Duties as Zonal Magistrate in Urban Area Author: Dr. K.S.Kang

My Election Duty as a Zonal Magistrate/Sector Officer in Urban Area

Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

Our service cadre always complained that Election Commission did not pay heed to hierarchy of pay scales while allotting duties in the elections and the people with much lower pay scales were made Area Magistrates and Zonal Magistrates while college teachers were just made Presiding Officers of polling parties. After much lobbying and representations ultimately Election Commission decided to make college teachers also as Zonal Magistrates. This initiative was first of all taken by District Collector Sawai Madhopur Mr. G.S. Sandhu whose wife was Assistant Professor in Agriculture Faculty at that time in Government College Sawai Madhopur. Others also followed and I was made Zonal Magistrate/Sector Officer of Nimbahera Town of Chittorgarh district. The Nimbahera Town was divided into two zones and after initial pre poll training we were allotted Jeeps/SUV’s with a driver so that we can move in our areas to perform our duties freely and efficiently. Basically Zonal magistrate/Sector Officer was eyes and ears and even sometimes nose also of district administration as District Administration or District Election Officer could not be at every place and at every time simultaneously so it depended on the facts and information provided by Zonal Magistrates/Sector Officers in the given formats and proformas from time to time during their visit to the respective areas. Besides helping the district administration in the swift conduct of polls a Zonal Magistrate/Sector Officer had also to ensure the safety of polling parties and their comfortable stay at the poling station by ensuring the availability of Assured Minimum Facilities like availability of drinking water, electricity and clean and hygienic wash rooms. In addition to it a Zonal Magistrate had also to maintain the sanctity of polls by maintaining the identity of voters a secret by ensuring that the concerned political parties and candidates followed Model Code of Conduct framed by Election Commission of India. In one Zone/Sector normally eight to ten polling stations were placed.

After pre poll training we set out in our vehicles for our allotted areas. My area began from Kailas Vidya Mandir and Government College building in the North to the building of a government school at Chotti-Sadri road in the south. I was fortunate that I was given urban sector as there would be no problem of food or staying at the headquarters. The headquarter given to me was Dak Bungalow of Public Works Department where the Election observer from Central Government, who were senior IAS officer was also staying in the room adjoining to my room. As the caretaker of Dak Bungalow also turned out to be a student of my college so he used to provide tea to me from time to time when ever he used to prepare tea for the Observer. In every tour of the area we had to fill certain formats and proformas and provide certain facts and data relating to polling booth, vulnerability prone sections of society, and observance of model code of conduct by the concerned candidates and political parties. The duties of a Zonal Magistrate were divided broadly into three – Pre poll duties, During poll duties and post poll duties. Besides providing information and data regarding polling booths a zonal magistrate had to ensure peaceful polls in his area and if there is any violation of model code of conduct he has to take action or report it to higher authorities. Pre poll duties also included the returning to district headquarter on a particular date to collect polling parties allotted to your area and to escort them safely to their polling station. So the vehicle of a Zonal magistrate follows the vehicle of the last polling party of his area. He has to report the arrival of each polling party of his area and the poll preparedness of each polling party to District Election Office. I found that in my area there were some buildings in which there were two polling booths. The area under me had polling booths in Kailash Vidya mandir, a private school owned by JK Cement Works, building of Government College, Muincipality building, Government primary School near Dak Bungalow and the Government School building on Chotti Sadri Road. Thus in total I had ten polling booths under me. During the polls a Zonal Magistrate has to ensure free and fair poll in his area besides giving percentage of votes polled in his area booth wise after every couple of hours. To reach every booth in two hours was a near impossibility Two things had improved communication one was mobile phones so information can be gathered on phones from the polling parties after every two hours and the coming of EVM’s (Electronic Voting Machines) had facilitated the collection of data. After the polls it is duty of a Zonal Magistrate that every polling party reaches the district headquarters safely and properly deposits the EVM’s and other polling material. A Zonal Magistrate is also expected to fill certain information and formats before he gets relieving certificate from District Election Officer or Returning Officer in case of Legislative Assembly polls.           

            Fortunately my next duty as Zonal Magistrate also came in the area of Nimbahera and same number of polling booths were allotted to me. Mostly the vehicles given to the Zonal Magistrates were either Bolero or Jeeps of Mahindra Motors but the vehicle given to me was Trax Cruise of Tata Motors. The distance between district headquarters and Nimbahera was 30 kms but as the road was under construction so it nearly took me 45 minutes to reach my area. In these polls vulnerability mapping was stressed as Election Commission felt that certain sections of society are denied right to vote with the help of money or muscle power and they are threatened and even bribed for not voting or for voting to any particular candidate or party. So Election Commission also recommended confidence building measures in these sections of society before and during the polls and it was duty of concerned police officers to ensure that the members of vulnerable sections of society go to vote at their respective polling booths. Everything went on normal in these polls except an incident that occurred at the polling booth of Kailash Vidya Mandir. Here the ballot issuing button of EVM was broken as a result of which Presiding Officer was unable to issue the ballots so the polling stopped and a crowd gathered at the booth threatening to cause disturbance at the booth. I was informed by the Presiding officer of the booth and I informed at once to SDO and asked driver of my vehicle to reach the polling station at once. When I reached this booth Tehsildar had already reached the polling booth along with the mechanic who removed the piece of broken button of EVM and showed Presiding Officer the method to issue ballot and at the end of the polls place the broken button on the top of the machine before sealing it. This thing worked and the polling was resumed. As I came out of the polling booth as I climbed my vehicle I announced the resumption of polling amidst the shouts of jubilation from the crowd that included some media people too. Though the polling had stopped only for 30 minutes but the breath of the whole administration had become still during that period. After the polls all the parties deposited their EVM’s and other poll related material and after depositing my documents I got free and came back to my home in the midnight after procuring the duty certificate that I had to give to my college clerk next day.