Slow polling process irks political parties
Ine ciency of some polling o cials may have aggravated the situation, says UDF candidate
The slow polling process that the State witnessed in the 18th Lok Sabha elections held on Friday has by and large disappointed political parties irrespective of their winning chances. The blame for the unusual delays in the polling is on election ocials and the technology involved.
“The problem, as far as we know, was in the setting of the voting machines. It took more than usual time for a vote to be processed by the machine. This was frustrating,” said Syed Abid Husain Thangal, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader and MLA of Kottakkal.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] district secretariat member and Malappuram Parliament committee secretary V.P. Anil said the delay in the beep sound that the machine gave after voting was confusing. “I had to wait confusedly for several seconds for the beep sound to come. The technology is to blame for the delay,” added Mr. Anil.
BJP district president
Ravi Thelath said the introduction of VVPAT (voter veriable paper audit trail) unit with the electronic voting machines (EVMs) from the last election had slowed down the polling process. “VVPAT as well as the summer heat and Friday Juma played a role in the delay,” said Mr. Thelath.
IUML leader and former MLA Abdurahman Randathani said the Election Commission should review the reasons for the delay. “The machines were slow. And, ocials did not rise to the occasion to circumvent that slowness,” he added.
“There may not be any foul play in the delay. But the ineciency and inexperience of some polling ocials may have aggravated the situation.Yet, people stood in queue patiently to exercise their franchise,” said E.T. Mohammed Basheer, United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate in Malappuram. However, UDF district chairman P.T. Ajay Mohan accused the government of causing the delay by slowing down the process. He said the ineciency of the polling ocials was evident.