The Election Commission of India’s decision to bring booths to the doorsteps of voters has resulted in three housing complexes in New Town getting the chance to vote on homeground. The Telegraph Salt Lake visited the Action Area III addresses.
Rosedale Garden
The clubhouse at Rosedale Garden could be mistaken to be shut from afar, so sparse is the footfall here. While elsewhere at Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Government College or the New Town Mela Ground, the wait for voters was long, here it was the officials who were waiting for voters to arrive. They greeted each entrant into the booth with a smiling “welcome”.
“There are 151 votes here. About 95 per cent are from the complex,” said one.
Evelyn Pao breezed in and out. “This is so cool,” the resident beamed on her way out. Alok Anand too came downstairs to vote and returned home, without having to drive out.
Arun Sharma, who has a mobility issue, reached the hall, accompanied by wife Sarita. “Last time, our vote was in a village opposite Jain Ashram. Part of the road wasn’t even motorable,” he said.
But not everyone could vote in the comfort. “When we heard of the proposal from ECI, we embraced it at our Town Hall meet. There are 360-370 voters here but everyone’s polling booth could not be changed on time. So this year, some of us still had to go to the Utility Building or the school in Akandakeshari. Next time, we hope to sort things out,” said president of the apartment owners’ association Manoj Sharma, who voted at the Utility Building himself.
Uniworld City
Though the two booths here, with a combined voter count of 1,237, were far more crowded than at Rosedale, the mood was festive. Jyotiprakash Jena and Sikata Nayak were spotted clicking a selfie outside the booth.
“I have been writing to the ECI since 2016 for such an option. I collected forms filled up by 1,200 residents across several housing complexes, be they for enrolment or shift of address, and appealed to the then-SDO Suman Poddar for a separate booth for this area. Our votes were scattered across New Town till then,” recalled Anil Sinha, a proactive resident.
Sukhobrishti
An extension of the maintenance office served as the sole polling booth here. “We have voters here from New Town Heights, Elita Garden Vista and The Soul other than our own residents,” said a polling agent.
The queue here was slow and the blame was on elderly residents who bypassed the queue and took offence at being asked to offer thumb impression instead of signing. “I am standing here for an hour and half. Since we know all of them, we can’t refuse them precedence in the queue,” grimaced Partha Pradhan.
But they were all delighted that the wait was happening right at their own doorstep, and not far away.
As happy as the voters were the women polling personnel. All the housing complexes had offered air-conditioned premises as polling booths. “This was beyond our fantasy. I had even brought a bottle of phenyl along, as I was worried about the state of the toilet offered,” laughed Moumita Sarkar, the presiding officer at one of the booths in Uniworld City, who is from Durganagar Nepal Chandra High School, near the airport.
“We had heard polling booths often have no drinking water or have toilets, which are dirty or without privacy. We have no such problems here,” said Jesmina Banu, a health and physical education teacher at Barasat Girls’ High School.