CHEDEMA, India (AP) — The line at Government Middle School was orderly as people waited patiently to vote even after one of the voting machines malfunctioned.
The officers working at the polling station in the village of Chedema in India’s small mountain state of Nagaland on Friday had arrived the day before, all women on election duty for the first time. The four women surveyed the polling station, secured the area and began the tedious paperwork associated with India’s multi-phase national elections.
They only stopped for an early dinner and listened to the voice of Eholi Jimo, 35, cooking their meal over an open fire. “Please eat while the food is still warm,” she urged.
The North Angami constituency is the first constituency of Nagaland to be governed exclusively by women polling agents. It was the idea of Kumar Ramnikant, the administrative head of Kohima district, in the hope of breaking stereotypes at work.
“If our country needs proper development, there should be equal contribution from both halves,” Ramnikant said. “Empowerment should not only take place at the highest level, but also at the bottom level. It should be at all levels for real empowerment.”
“Women are more systematic. They take every sentence seriously, while men have an easy-going attitude,” said Zhoto Khamo, an officer who has supervised many elections.
India’s elections, which began on Friday, will end on June 1 and counting will begin on June 4. Each phase is held on a single day, with different constituencies in multiple states voting that day. The staggered elections allow the government to deploy tens of thousands of troops to prevent violence and transport election officials and voting machines.
Security issues were not a concern at the Chedema polling station as the constituency has not recorded any election-related violence in the recent past.
The Election Commission of India must ensure that a polling booth is available within a radius of 2 kilometers of every voter. About 15 million election officials and security personnel will crisscross the country’s deserts and mountains — sometimes by boat, on foot and even on horseback — to try to reach every voter.
“I just hope that it will go smoothly and that everything will happen on time,” said Neichütuonuo Yhome, 27, chairman of the Chedema polling station team.
After collecting the electronic voting machines and other election materials, Yhome led her team to their station.
Their service resumed at dawn on Friday.
The night before, they had spread out their sleeping bags on the cold concrete floor of a classroom. A village leader quickly arranged rugs for the night, saying: “They are guests of the village.”
