By Ibankyntiew Mawrie
“I may have many faults, but being wrong ain’t one of them”–Jimmy Hoffa
As the citizens of Meghalaya and
the candidates in particular wait
anxiously for the elections results to be declared on February 28, 101 questions streams through the heads of those who unintentionally pressed the wrong button on the polling day and donated one vote to another candidate.
“What if he wins by one vote? Could that my vote? Why was I nervous? Why didn’t I enquire before pressing the buttons?” are some of the few questions that might have crossed through the minds of those people who committed the blunder on Saturday last.
To cite a few, The Shillong Times came across a few incidents where the person unintentionally pressed the wrong button and donated one vote to another candidate.
One elderly woman of Mawlai who has difficulty in seeing things went to the polling station on Saturday with an intention to vote for the UDP candidate but unfortunately, her inability to see things clearly became her worse enemy on that fateful day when she pressed the wrong button.
“I thought I saw the picture of the Bom (drum) which was the symbol of the UDP and that is what I did. I pressed the button until later, when I came outside, I realized that the number I pressed was infact a wrong button”, she said disappointedly.
In another similar occasion, one old lady before entering inside had enquired about the arrangement of the list and was pretty confident to press the right button. “But when I got inside, out of nervousness, I pressed the wrong button and in a split second, I realized what I did and again pressed the right button but unfortunately, my vote was counted as invalid”, she said.
On the other hand, a very old lady, pretty sure about her intentions went to the polling booth and ate up much of the time of the polling officers, enquiring again and again just to make sure she wouldn’t make a blunder when she goes inside the polling booth or the magical box, like she terms it.
Supported by her walking stick, the old lady went inside the magical box, but again took so much time as she was busy cross- checking each and every number and names of the candidates enlisted in the EVM machines.
For the second time, the old lady sought the help of one of the polling officer asking him to read out the names of the candidate and the party they represented.
When the polling officer read out the names aloud, the lady asked him to stop and there she goes…beeeeeep…she pressed the button bearing the candidate’s name and the symbol of the party she wanted to vote for.
Meanwhile, when questioning some of the first time voters, their first impression was it felt good while some expressed nervousness of having to press the button for the first time and that too without making any mistake.
“I was standing infront of my mother in a queue in the early morning of February 23 when my turn has come to go inside. Nervous, I asked my mom to step in first before me and made sure to copy whatever she did inside from signing the papers, submitting my voter slip to lending out my finger to the person to apply that black color paint”, a young voter of 21 years old said.
“After my mother casted her vote, I looked back at her when she said ‘clear your mind and sharpened your eyes’, at first I thought I was giving a personal exams but later when I entered the booth, I scanning the four names mentioned in the EVM machine, and thankfully, my finger didn’t betray me that day as I pressed the right button”, she said.
There are similar incidences in almost every polling stations, if it was not the case of pressing the wrong button, it was vomiting on the EVM machine or wasting a vote due to double pressing and the likes.
What could be more disappointing to those people who waited five years and spent half of the month campaigning for the party of their choice but on the big day, they end up making a big blunder that could to some extent alter the whole process, like the saying goes, ‘A vote can change the fate of a candidate’.
Disappointed and angry, they are, but that is something they have to accept. “It is not like I did it intentionally, I made a mistake and I hope that my mistake wouldn’t let the candidate I support down”, the lady said adding “To err is human, to forgive is divine.”
On the wholesome, at least these people took the effort of coming out on that day and exercised their franchise, boycotting the HNLC bandh unless others who preferred sitting at home, talking about a change but refrained from being part of the change.