Sikkim Votes! RANJIT SINGH

GANGTOK, 12 Apr: 5 pm might have been the scheduled time for the end of voting process, but the fact that voting continued well past this scheduled time with queues of pending voters in several polling stations awaiting their chance at franchise, is probably testimony to the zeal with which Sikkim went to vote today.
At the DAC, East, the Returning Officer when contacted at 5 pm stated that voting might continue up to 7 p.m. at many polling stations  as the queue still had a couple of hundred eager voters.
In a polling booth at Ranipool, a malfunctioning machine had to be replaced adding to the extra time at the end of play at 5 p.m.
Whatever may be the reasons for long queues still waiting to register their say in the makeup of the new government of Sikkim, it was evident today that voting had caught the imagination of the people with politics being the flavor of the season. As an election official pointed out, “This time there is a huge chunk of young and first time voters who have come out in large numbers”.
And it is true that the so called youth brigade was all over the place. By 1 p.m. today, already half the voting population had cast their vote. By 3 pm this figure had come to near 70% and by 4 pm the voter turnout for all districts stood at 76%, or 2.81 lakhs out of the total 3.70 lakhs. During the 2009 elections a total of 2.52 lakh people had voted out of the total electorate of 3.07 lakhs. So, already by 4 pm, the voting numbers had surpassed the figures of last elections.
The swelling of the electorate of Sikkim by almost 70,000 since the last elections was the main reason for the spilling of voting into overtime. Those in the queue were handed chits as is customary practice. However it was a grand show of collective responsibility and unity in deciding the future of the state on the part of the people. At the same time, the same can be said of the contesting candidates and political parties as well as the security personnel on duty that there was no a single untoward incident throughout the state today; at least none till the time of going to print.
The days preceding 12 April may have been littered with law & order breakdowns, complaints and allegations but the day that mattered the most went peacefully. None of the districts reported any problems. There were however some incidents of misreporting and rumour-mongering but even these collapsed on themselves eventually and did not hopefully influence how people voted. So, all in all, a successful day for Sikkim.
In fact, many heaved a sigh of relief that the day had come and gone.
“I am relieved,” said a government official on being asked how she felt on having cast her vote at the DAC, East Sikkim. Another young man echoed the same words at a polling booth in Namcheybung. This time, the campaigns and slew of allegations and assaults were probably a bit too much for the people of Sikkim. The emotion of relief was writ large on the faces of most of the people; most had become emotionally drained at the choice presented to them in terms of two major political parties competing for the next government.
For the young voters it was a picnic. “I feel good,” said one first time voter at Burtuk, while another expressed how empowered he had felt on casting his ballot. No doubt it is this chunk that could very well decide theirs as well as the future of the rest of the state. But Sikkim has also had among the oldest active voters as well. There were many aged and senior citizens lining up and being escorted by their young. It is, after all, their right.
As for voting itself, many polling booths saw rush hour in the first few hours of voting. In many places the people standing in line were seen to be complaining about the slow pace of voting. “I have been standing here for 3 hours,” said one at a polling station in Namcheybung. The presiding officers in polling booths had strict instructions to follow due procedures and this may have contributed to the slow pace of voting.
Another reason for the apparently slow process, as an election official informed, was that increase in the number of voters in some polling booths. As far as statistics go the Ben Namphrick Panchayat Ghar in Temi Namphing constituency has the largest number of voters at 1,450 followed by Penlong SSS for Kabi Lungchok constituency with 1,406 voters. The polling station at Zuluk Primary School under Gnathang Machong constituency has the lowest number of voters at 121 only; the second lowest number of voters are registered with the 10th Mile Primary School also under Kabi with 150 voters.