I was forced to be a Pappu

Why was I forced to be a Pappu? Because inspite of trying thrice, I could not vote. Reason: my name was not on the electoral roll of three polling booths.

I have always been very proud of our democracy. It is actually one of the few things I admire about this country which is riddled with almost every possible social, economic and political evils. After today's experience, I am perilously close to giving into complete pessimism and cynicism.

I came home (Gurgaon) all set to vote yesterday. According to the RWA notice, our polling booth was supposed to be in F Block Community Centre, DLF City, Phase 1. We went there bright and early and was told to find our names on the electoral rolls. There were two booths, one set up by the BJP and one by the Congress. We started browsing through the electoral rolls (with five other people craning their necks trying to see if their names were in it too). Every page brought disappointment. Our names weren't there!! We asked the people at the booth how do we find out our polling booth. They were clueless...one guy tried to tell me it was the voter's responsibility to find this out!! No one even knew where the other polling booths were. Finally someone told us there was a polling booth in G-block also for Silver Oaks people. My father and I reached the place but again we were disappointed. the same story was repeated. No one knew where our names were, how we could find out which polling booth to go to, where the polling booths were located, etc. etc.

We came back home. I started searching on the internet. The Election Commission of India's website had the option of searching electoral rolls but it was not working. Then I tried calling the helplines on the Haryana Electoral Department (ceoharyana.nic.in). Someone picked up but instead of giving me any info just shouted at me that it was the wrong number and banged the phone. All the other numbers were either perpetually busy or just kept on ringing. The numbers are: 2224047; 2220860; 2220861. Finally, after searching on the net for hours, I figured our names might be in the Chakarpur Block A DLF Phase 1 polling booth. So at 3:30pm we trudged there in the heat but the same story was repeated. No one had any clue, our names were not on, etc etc. That's when we just gave up!! I have rarely been this disappointed in my country!!