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.
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