Personnel drafted for poll duty face several challenges such as lack of toilets, water, and light

The polling personnel, especially women teachers, getting poll duty assignment encounter several problems such as lack of restrooms and lack of water supply during their overnight stay in the polling stations ahead of polling

The polling personnel, especially women teachers, getting poll duty assignment say they encounter several problems such as lack of restrooms and lack of water supply during their overnight stay in the polling stations ahead of polling.

Several personnel, who wished to remain anonymous fearing vindictive action by officials, shared their ordeal during the Assembly elections in 2021. Their common complaint is that washrooms in many schools lacked water supply. “When I reached my polling station on the previous evening during 2021 Assembly polls, I checked the washroom, which was in a nauseating condition as there was no water. I had to clean the toilet first after fetching water from a nearby well in a bucket from an adjacent house. Another problem was that there was no electric bulb in the washroom and my repeated appeals to the officials to fit a bulb in the toilet were ignored. I bought a few candles with which I and my friends managed the situation,” recalled a woman presiding officer.

While the polling personnel have to give a makeover to the toilets to make it useable, the absence of bathroom in the schools is the another major headache for them.

“Sensing the situation in store, I, along with two other polling personnel posted in a village in Radhapuram Assembly segment during Assembly elections 2021, managed to convince heads of three houses in the village who generously allowed us to take bath before we reported for duty,” said a woman teacher.

Another woman presiding officer had a different experience. “When we, a group of four women personnel were posted in a remote school in Ambasamudram Assembly segment in 2021, went to take a look at the washroom the previous day, we were cautioned by a retired teacher in the house next to the school about the presence of venomous snakes in the washroom which had no electric bulb. She asked us to be extremely careful while using it. So, we, after cleaning the toilet, bought candles from a shop in the village and got two 6-foot-long sticks from the retired teacher to deal with any adverse situation,” she said.

A man posted in a rural school in Nanguneri Assembly segment spent a sleepless night before the polling day. “While I managed to ward off mosquitoes with repellent cream, I did not know how to deal with the rats running around the place where we had to sleep,” he recalled.

Those who were posted in remote villages in the last election had a tough time in reaching the nearest bus stop or bus stand after the polling.