Keeping up with high voting percentage at the state that reached 74, almost 70 percent of the Redvakalan residents turned up to vote for the assembly elections on Sunday. Of the total 1095 voters in the village, as many as 770 voted.  

Jhora Ram was at the main gate of the polling booth, the primary school in Redvakalan at 7.45am, fifteen minutes before it was thrown open for polling. Dressed in crisp white dhoti and green kurta, the ex-sarpanch of the village had walked four kilometers to reach the polling station. “I have always been the first to vote in every election, I wanted to be the first today as well,” he said.  Behind him were twenty others all dressed as nattily. Women queued up besides men and were dressed in their colourful best. 

Champa Bai, draped in a bright red shawl to ward off the early morning chill, said she had finished the household chores early in the morning to reach the polling booth to vote. “I wanted to be done early before the queue gets longer,” she said.
By the time the clock struck 8 and constable Sakha Ram opened the gates, the queue had grown bigger. They were let in one by one to cast their votes. Inside the gate, ahead of the polling booth, sat Pabu Ram, the booth level officer (BLO). The voters before entering the booth, consulted with the BLO to check if they had the necessary documents.

Kalu photo and voters slip

“You need to have your voters slip along with your ‘kalu photo’ in order to vote,” said the BLO as the voters entered the gate.( Kalu photo is the voter identity card (epic) and is called thus as the majority of the mug shots on them turned out to be black). “But is it not written here that the voters slip in itself is the identity card and good enough to vote?” questioned Jhora ram, the veteran voter. “Is it so? Let me check with the polling officer,” said the BLO as he went inside the booth to clarify. “Yes, yes you were right, you will need to show the ‘kalu photo’ only when there is some mistake in the voters slip,” said the BLO.     

Women match men in numbers

Initially, for first few hours, men far outnumbered women in the queue for voting. However by ten o’clock both the queues were similar in length. “Those men who have to go to town for work are the first to arrive,” said Pita Ram. “Women come in after 10 after having finished their household chores,” he explained. By 12 pm the women queue had far outgrown the men’s. Lassi Bai, a mother of two had come after having made food for the children and wanted to get home before 1 pm so that she could get her goats out for grazing. By 12 pm, as much as 400 had voted and looking at the brisk pace of voting, it seemed, it would end at 2pm.

Many familiar faces

As men and women queued up for voting I could see many familiar faces, those I had conversation with many times in the village asking them why did they vote and why it was important to them. While it was not surprising to see those who had said voting was their right and they voted for the good of the village, it was indeed a pleasant surprise to find those who had said they would not vote this election, standing in the queue.  Meera bai, Lakshmi bai, Veera Ram, Suga Ram, all of them who had sounded non-committal were there in the queue. “Well since the entire village is voting how could we not vote,” said Veera Ram, before I questioned him why he was voting. “Last night I made up my mind to vote after a discussion in the family,” said Meera bai, who had earlier said she would not vote as none of the parties cared for the village.  

Liquor, cash motivation for voting?

While Meera Bai may have been motivated to vote by her family members, there were whispers about liquor being the primary reason why many men were standing to vote. “It cannot be confirmed who were supplied with a bottle of English (Indian made foreign liquor), but we know for sure, the truck carrying liquor made rounds in the village last night,” said Pabu Ram the BLO. So do the voters get influenced a bottle of English? “No one knows for sure but the agents who supply the liquor on behalf of the parties in contention do promise their master of favourable result. Those who receive the liquor also promised to vote for the supplier party,” he said. “Jiski bazri uski hazri, is what the voters promise.” 

Vote for change

Listening to the conversation on cash/liquor for vote for long, Bhera Ram, the 70-year-old farmer joined in strongly refuting BLO Pabu Ram’s insinuations. “While I accept that villagers do accept liquor or cash they do not sell their votes for sure. I have been around for many elections to say this with authority,” he said. “People vote for the good of the village, and its people.”

Jhora Ram, the ex sarpanch agreed.  “I am here to vote for the development of the village. Look at the road leading up to the polling booth, I had difficulty walking up to here. It has not been built since ages. I will send a message to the sitting MLA, through my vote” he said.
Roma Bai, who ran a small shop in the village wanted to vote for the one who had promised electricity in the village. “Not far from this village on the main road there is a new colony that has electricity round the clock but here we have been living in the dark since many years now. I will vote for change,” she said.