First Nayanar Ministry came to power on 25th January 1980 as a result of the election held on 21st January 1980 and it didn't complete its tenure and consequently a bi-election to Kerala Legislative Assembly took place on 9th May 1982 and Karunakaran Ministry came in to power on 21st May 1982 .
I joined in cwrdm on 1st October 1980 and my first appointment for election duty was in 1982 for the bi-election to Kerala State Legislative Assembly. I was appointed as First Reserve Polling Officer. Since Reserve Polling Officer has nothing to do till he is called for somebody's place as the original person has not attended the election duty with sufficient reasons. So, normally few Reserve Persons will get actual election duty. The Reserve Personals should sit there until all Election Duty assigned personals have left with their complete crew. I was not called for the duty till all Election Duty assigned personal left and I was freed from Reserve Duty at about 3 pm on that day.
In December 1984 Loksabha Election took place and this time I was appointed as First Polling Officer and my Presiding Officer was an School master who was not having previous experience as Presiding Officer and hence he contacted his experienced friend who was not posted for that election duty. He gave all guidances and I also gathered necessary precaution and actions we have to take in-order to act as "One day King". We have put distinguishing marks on the top right hand corner of both on the back of counter foil and also on the back of the ballot papers alloted to our polling station.Half of the ballot papers were signed by the presiding officer and kept in his safe custody. Filled all forms and covers with Polling station No, Name of Constituency etc. and pasted labels on Ballot box . Towards the end of the poll an arrangement was made so as to avoid unused but signed ballot papers by signing the Ballot Papers by the Presiding Offer in-situ. The poll ended peacefully and we have packed all the materials and arranged the forms according to FORM No 22 (receipt for return of election Records and Materials after poll). Generally people appointed for Election Duty will not go through these forms the day before polling and they will try to fill these things after the poll, at that time all will be in a hurry to reach their destination, resulting confusion and in a hurry they go to receiving center and at the receiving station they will ask one by one and we will not be able to produce things properly. If a single person has committed this mistake, all others have to suffer!!!
I joined in cwrdm on 1st October 1980 and my first appointment for election duty was in 1982 for the bi-election to Kerala State Legislative Assembly. I was appointed as First Reserve Polling Officer. Since Reserve Polling Officer has nothing to do till he is called for somebody's place as the original person has not attended the election duty with sufficient reasons. So, normally few Reserve Persons will get actual election duty. The Reserve Personals should sit there until all Election Duty assigned personals have left with their complete crew. I was not called for the duty till all Election Duty assigned personal left and I was freed from Reserve Duty at about 3 pm on that day.
In December 1984 Loksabha Election took place and this time I was appointed as First Polling Officer and my Presiding Officer was an School master who was not having previous experience as Presiding Officer and hence he contacted his experienced friend who was not posted for that election duty. He gave all guidances and I also gathered necessary precaution and actions we have to take in-order to act as "One day King". We have put distinguishing marks on the top right hand corner of both on the back of counter foil and also on the back of the ballot papers alloted to our polling station.Half of the ballot papers were signed by the presiding officer and kept in his safe custody. Filled all forms and covers with Polling station No, Name of Constituency etc. and pasted labels on Ballot box . Towards the end of the poll an arrangement was made so as to avoid unused but signed ballot papers by signing the Ballot Papers by the Presiding Offer in-situ. The poll ended peacefully and we have packed all the materials and arranged the forms according to FORM No 22 (receipt for return of election Records and Materials after poll). Generally people appointed for Election Duty will not go through these forms the day before polling and they will try to fill these things after the poll, at that time all will be in a hurry to reach their destination, resulting confusion and in a hurry they go to receiving center and at the receiving station they will ask one by one and we will not be able to produce things properly. If a single person has committed this mistake, all others have to suffer!!!
After this election, in almost all elections, I served as Presiding Officer and I didn"t experience any difficulty in discharging my duties as Presiding Officer. I got wholeharted support from my collegues, polling agents and political parties in the conduct of election. The only difficulty I phased is in the receiving centre. This is due to the lack of proper decision and directions from authorities. The directions given in rehearsal class will some times contradict when we go to handover the materials to the Receiving Authorities and more over we will be forced to give different materials in different counters also. This also creates utter confusion in the midst of haste crowed, who were eager to dispose the materials and leave the place. If the authorities take some more precautions and give proper written directions (some times they do) apart from HAND BOOK this confusion will be averted and the election duty will become a nice experience and employees will accept election duty wholeheartedly.
Nowadays election duty is a compulsion and most of the persons getting election duty memo tries to get a medical certificate from a doctor and approaches the authorities for getting exemption from duty. It is a very sad plight!!!
In the last Panchayat election held on 26-09-05, I was posted as Presiding Officer in polling station No 2/1 Ekarool, Unnikulam, Balussery. As per the directions prevailed at that time, apart from other things, I submitted three covers containing ballot paper accounts (one for Grama Panchayat-GP, one for Block Panchayat-BP, and one for District Panchayat-DP), One cover cotaining Paper Seal account, One cover containing the declaration of the Presiding fficer, three covers containing presiding officers Diary and one cover containing aquittance Roll of TA to polling personals. These covers need not be sealed and the officials in the collecting centre will veryfey the contents on receipt itself. Packet-I STATUTARY COVERS, Packet-II NON STATUTORY COVERS are to be sealed.PACKET-III and PACKET - IV need not be sealed
It is a strange experience that every employee should try to acquire and imbibe in their mind for the inspiration during the relaxing period of retired life. It will surely give a sense of satisfaction much above the routine duties discharged during their official tenure.
with best wishes
ktv
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