There was still an hour to go but they simply couldn’t wait. Decked up, dishevelled, bleary-eyed, anxious and bored- all kinds of them had queued up outside the government-run primary school waiting to get inside. The necessary arrangements were in place and the falling temperatures had also thankfully levelled. Samardha was all set to make that important choice of who would represent the Huzur constituency, to which it belongs, in the legislative assembly.

That entire thrill to exercise their franchise was not for nothing as the Samardha polling booth did witness a jump in the voter turnout from 55 percent in the 2008 assembly elections to 62.32 percent on Monday. This was close to the overall 64.04 percent voter turnout in the Huzur constituency. Residents from Samardha and four nearby colonies- Krishnapuram, Radhapuram, Liberty and Shubhalay had turned out in huge numbers and a total of 2326 votes were polled at booth numbers 204, 205 and 206 in the primary school.

There was a clear demarcation as to how the voters would turn out.
The early birds who had arrived an hour before the polling was to begin were the village women and those who had misplaced their voter slips or had not received them in the first place. The village women preferred to get done with their voting as early as possible before the village elderly and the men arrived.

They discussed and giggled about their voting as they walked out of the polling booth. They were happy that they had finished the “baahar ka kaam (outside work)” early and could now return to their household duties.

Savitri Bai, who had turned up in a bright red embroidered saree, was among the first to arrive. “Ab apan ki sarkaar banegi. Apan ne toh apna kaam kar diya aur ab unki (sarkaar ki) baari hai (Now, the people of my choice will come to power. I have done my job and now it is the government’s turn),” she says flashing a wide grin.

Kamla Maskhey, who is in her sixties, had worn the same saree she wore on Diwali. While her daughter Pinky, another first time voter, tried to joke about it, Kamla replied, “Khaas din hao aaj. Apan ka vote keemti hao, thoda achcha ban ke aana chahiye (It is an important day today. Our votes are important, we must look presentable).”

As the women stood in groups waiting for their relatives and neighbours to come out of the booth, discussions on who had voted for whom began instantaneously. When asked about her choice, a woman, in her forties, casually replied, “Apan ne ussi pe daala hao jiski kismat sabse mazboot hao (I have voted for the one whose destiny is the strongest)!”

The other lot of the early birds included those who had turned up without their voting slips. They were seen crowding around the small tent put outside the school campus to collect their voting slips from the three booth level officers (BLOs) - two of them were the primary school teachers and the third was the village's panchayat secretary. The speed with which the BLOs scanned through lists only kept increasing as the crowd of impatient voters present in the tent continued to swell.

Having spent over an hour hunting for his slip and finally being unable to find it, Maneesh Srivastava, 34, and a few others decided to return home without casting their votes.

"I have been voting in Samardha for the last 10 years in all the elections- big or small and today the BLOs are not able to locate my slip. This is so disappointing. I came all the way from Bhopal and arrived here at 7 in the morning just so that I could collect my voter slip in time to cast my vote and leave early," said Srivastava, who shifted out of Liberty colony around two years ago. "I still own a house here (in Liberty) and Samardha continues to remain my polling booth but somehow my name is missing from both the voting list and the deleted voters list," he explains.

And Srivastava was not the only one to have faced this problem as a few more were seen returning home without being able to exercise their franchise.
Kesar Singh and his wife Usha Bai too wore angry looks not being able to vote. In Singh's voter slip, all other details including his photograph are correct but his name has been replaced with that of his brother. Meanwhile in his wife's voter slip, all other details are correct but her photograph has been replaced with that of somebody else. "Ab toh hamara vote barbaad hi jaayega. Faaltu mein itni subah aaye (Now our vote will go to waste. We arrived early in the morning for nothing)," Singh said.

In yet another case, a young girl who cast her vote for the first time was identified as a man. "Not that I'll not be allowed to vote but how can they be that blind?" she questioned as she made her way to the polling booth.

Calling for the elimination of such loopholes from an important process like elections, Srivastava said, "I won't be able to select the state government. Such loopholes in the voting process should not be there because every vote matters. I just hope that I'll be able to vote in the general elections."

For the men who had accompanied their wives and mothers, the polling booth became a perfect place to catch up with their friends and old uncles from the colony whom they otherwise rarely met due to hectic work schedules. They had decided to vote in the end as they sat down in different groups around the BLO tent to get into random chatter on topics ranging from Shivraj mama to Sachin. The kids were a disappointed lot as they weren’t allowed inside the booth. Having tried their best to sit with their fathers, who went on with their discussions, the kids then got down to their own fun and games.

It was by 9:30-10 am that the elderly village men were seen arriving at the polling booth briskly walking inside the school gates to join the queue. Having cast their vote, they walked out wearing proud smiles and stood in small groups to discuss the voter turnout, excitement and the probable winners but remained hush-hush on whom they voted for. "Bahut utsaah hao yahaan pe. Log zyaada hao iss baar. Achcha chunaav hoga (There is much excitement here. A lot of people have come this time. It will be a good election)," said 73-year-old Sardar Singh Rajput who works as a farmer.

Joking with Rajput and few other elders for not disclosing their choice, one of the men standing close-by said, “Matdaata maun hai. Na jaane jeetne waala kaun hai (The voter is silent. Nobody knows who will win),” and the group roared with laughter.

Meanwhile, close to the primary school, the younger boys were seen playing cricket in the nearby field. On being asked why they had not joined the queues, one of them said, “Abhi ek-do match ho jaaye phir daalenge apan vote. Waise bhi poora din pada hua hao (We’ll go after playing a couple of matches. In any case, we have the whole day).”

By around noon, the younger girls, most of whom were first-time voters, were seen walking towards the polling booth in groups visibly excited. Having been informed by their parents about the importance of the voter slips, all of them had turned up with full preparation. “Apan toh ghar ka saara kaam nipta ke, aaraam se tayyar hoke aaye. Ab late hua toh bhi koi dikkat nahi hai (We came only after finishing all the household chores and now even if we get late, there will not be any problem).” Ask them about the excitement levels and one of them chuckles, “Bas khushi mein galat button na dab jaaye (I just hope that in all this excitement, I don’t press the wrong button)!”

The young boys who looked fatigued by late afternoon decided to finally cast their votes and return home for lunch so that they could back in the evening just before the polling ended. Soon to join them were the men, who had run out all the discussion topics by then. Their little picnic had come to an end.
Voters continued to trickle in till the last hour and the crowd had visibly shrunk by then. It was only the party workers, the BLOs and the security personnel deployed at the booth who stuck around till the end. A little while after the final counting of total votes polled were done, papers bundled and the voting machines sealed, the little troupe of security and election commission officials left in their vans and cars as the curtains came down on yet another round of peaceful elections in Samardha.