Decorations, air coolers fail to increase turnout at Vellore special polling booths

Polling officials’ efforts to deck up three ‘special’ booths to attract voters in Vellore had little effect on Monday as the turnout remained low. 

While two booths – one at Sathuvachari and another at Konavattam - were dubbed ‘pink’ booths and meant specially for women, another located in the PWD office at Thorapadi in front of the collector’s bungalow was a unisex booth, one among the six allocated for each constituency.

The last one was decorated with plantain trunks and an air cooler was provided for the convenience of the electorate. Three three-seater sofas were also brought in so that those awaiting their turn, do not feel uncomfortable.

Inside this booth, was a model of a house with a rainwater harvesting system to spread awareness about conserving water and voters were given seed balls and flowers.

The pink booth at the Konavattam government higher secondary school, welcomed the voters with red carpets, while the tables of polling officials 1, 2 and 3 were shining with satin. The walls too were painted pink and decorated with balloons. 

The poll officials too appeared to be dressed in their best to lift spirits and lighten the mood. Most women, however, had no prior knowledge of the booth having been decked up specially for them.

When the officials were asked the reason for the poor turnout, they said that election being conducted on a week day could be a major reason. Some officials said that the general air of festivity which accompanies most elections too was missing this time.

But, among those who did turn up, a number of voters were unsure of how to use the EVMs. “Does it take 50 seconds for the EVM to beep after recording a vote?” asked K Gautham, a first-time voter.