Complaint and compliment mix on day bullets took lives in state

Sujata Mallik, appointed by the Election Commission, was thrown out of the polling premises by the central forces at Chandernagore

Central forces guard Mankundu in Hooghly on Saturday.: Snehamoy Chakraborty

Snehamoy Chakraborty, Arkamoy Datta Majumdar | TT | Howrah, Hooghly   |  11.04.21: Sujata Mallik had been appointed by the Election Commission to help voters with the polling process but her work was hampered as central forces allegedly threw her out of the polling premises at Chandernagore in Hooghly on Saturday.

Mallik was manning a voters’ assistance booth at the Bindubasini Gana Vidyalaya  in Chandernagore when central forces deployed at the polling station asked her to leave, she said.

The Telegraph came across Mallik, in her early thirties, sitting under the blazing sun on the staircase of a private house with a bundle of electoral rolls and a pen.

Asked why she was there instead of at the polling station, Mallik said: “I was posted at Bindubasini Gana Vidyalaya, where polling for Chandernagore Assembly constituency is taking place, to help voters. I was initially allowed to sit inside the polling station but suddenly a central force person came and asked me to leave the premises.”

Mallik is not a representative of a political party and was deployed by the poll panel to help voters if they did not find their names on the electoral list or did not wish to go to camps of political parties.

Asked if she protested against the high-handedness of central forces, Mallik said: “I did not protest but sat in front of the polling station where there was shade. The owner of the house objected. The central forces did not support me but asked me to shift to another place. So I came here and sat on a staircase. A resident gave me water and you can see me sitting under the blazing sun.”

A commission official clarified the role of people like Mallik in the poll process. This official said the deployment of voters’ assistants was mandatory at every booth. Though they are not allowed inside booths, they should be present on the premises alongside personnel deployed to maintain Covid-19 protocols, the official said.

The official agreed it was wrong of the central force jawan to force out Mallik from the booth premises.

“She had an identity proof around her neck and her designation was clearly written. It was unnecessary proactiveness on the part of the central forces,” the official said.

Debarati Sarkar, the sub-divisional official of Chandernagore, acknowledged Mallik and many like her had been posted by the administration and said she was unaware about the incident involving Mallik.

“Yes, they are allowed inside polling stations but not booths. But it should not have happened to her,” said Sarkar.

On a day of firing by the CISF in Cooch Behar’s Sitalkuchi, the conduct of the  central forces was increasingly coming under the scanner.

Trinamul chief Mamata Banerjee has been raising questions about the high-handedness of central forces and alleged that jawans were working under orders of Union home minister Amit Shah.

In other instances of alleged high-handedness by the  central forces, jawans lathi-charged Trinamul supporters at Panchla’s booth no. 185 and at Bandel’s Mahatma Gandhi Hindi Vidyalaya.

While several such incidents were reported from the 44 Assembly constituencies that went to polls on Saturday, the central forces were also praised  by some voters for their help.

At Shree Krishna Hindi MCFP School in Howrah North Assembly seat, a man in his late sixties praised the jawans for their help.

“I was standing at the end of the queue. I’m an orthopaedic patient and can’t stand for long. The good gentleman from the force came up to me and asked if I would like to move forward. He took me ahead of others,” the voter, who had come alone, said.

The Telegraph asked a group of people chatting near a booth in Howrah Central if they faced any harassment at the hands of the central forces. They answered in the negative.

“We just cast our vote and came out. The central forces were very cooperative and  helped us maintain social distancing,” said Ramen Nath, a member of the group.

The forces were also mostly complimented by the voters  of Jadavpur, Tollygunge and Kasba constituencies.

Sources said that the Sitalkuchi incident had been communicated to all the jawans posted on poll duty and the “proactiveness” of the morning gradually went missing as the day passed.

“We have been alerted by our seniors to be careful about how to handle voters. We have been asked to manage the voters and not to allow gathering within 100 metres of polling stations,” said a central force personnel in Chinsurah.

“Our task is to ensure a free and fair poll,” a central force jawan was heard saying to a colleague in Howrah’s Domjur shortly after the firing incident in Sitalkuchi.

However, stray resentment continued.

Some voters complained of “language gap”. A couple of jawans were seen taking the help of local police to communicate with the voters.

“I was asking the central force personnel in Bengali to direct me to my booth. He couldn’t understand me and made me wait while he called a local cop and asked me to speak to him, which he should’ve done earlier,” a lady in Jadavpur said.

At most booths, voters were not allowed inside polling stations with their phones, which a section of voters thought was tantamount to harassment. “As soon as I stood in the queue, a central force personnel came and asked me to switch off the phone. I could not understand the reason but had to switch off my phone,” said a voter who voted at Singur Mahamaya High School in Hooghly.