GUWAHATI: For years, election officers deputed within the riverine spaces of lower Assam would brave hazardous trips across the unpredictable Brahmaputra to discharge their accountability. This time, the Election Commission has taken it upon itself to make sure that poll officers get to their assigned polling stations safely.
"We have distributed life jackets to all poll officials, presiding officers and security personnel dispatched to the char areas (sand bars) with polling material and EVMs," Munindra Sharma, district magistrate and returning officer for Barpeta, instructed IdealNews on Monday. "On-duty officials and security personnel who have to cross any other tributaries of the Brahmaputra to reach their polling stations have also been given life jackets," he added.
Barpeta, one in every of four Lok Sabha seats in Assam going to the polls on Tuesday, has the perfect choice of polling stations located in the midst of the Brahmaputra, 140. In truth, maximum char spaces are so far flung that polling officers on accountability in those spaces have been dispatched from the Barpeta district headquarters on Sunday, an afternoon sooner than different officers.
The determination, Sharma defined, used to be taken after taking into account the conceivable threats posed to the officers - pre-monsoon storms, technical failure of mechanized boats and high underwater currents within the Brahmaputra, particularly within the wider stretches of the river in lower Assam.
It has taken some time for election authorities to wake up to the risk polling officers put their lives in. In September closing yr, 3 folks died and 11 went missing after a mechanized boat - just like the ones that ferry polling officers to their locations - sporting 40 folks across the Brahmaputra capsized here. However, no motion used to be taken to verify the protection of polling officers on account of value and unavailability of enough life jackets.
"In the (Assam) assembly election (in 2016), I was deployed for poll duty at a char area near Dalgoma in Goalpara district. But we didn't get any life jacket," said Dipankar Basak, a teacher from Barpeta street.
This time, he used to be assigned to a polling station in Marichakandi char house in Barpeta. He left for his polling station at 4pm on Sunday and reached on Monday at 1pm. "The sand bars prevent a direct entry into Marichakandi. Our boat steered through the Brahmaputra for nearly three hours today (Monday). The water is knee-high in some areas along the way. It is not easy. But this time, should any untoward incident occur, we have life jackets to save us," he added.
"We have distributed life jackets to all poll officials, presiding officers and security personnel dispatched to the char areas (sand bars) with polling material and EVMs," Munindra Sharma, district magistrate and returning officer for Barpeta, instructed IdealNews on Monday. "On-duty officials and security personnel who have to cross any other tributaries of the Brahmaputra to reach their polling stations have also been given life jackets," he added.
Barpeta, one in every of four Lok Sabha seats in Assam going to the polls on Tuesday, has the perfect choice of polling stations located in the midst of the Brahmaputra, 140. In truth, maximum char spaces are so far flung that polling officers on accountability in those spaces have been dispatched from the Barpeta district headquarters on Sunday, an afternoon sooner than different officers.
The determination, Sharma defined, used to be taken after taking into account the conceivable threats posed to the officers - pre-monsoon storms, technical failure of mechanized boats and high underwater currents within the Brahmaputra, particularly within the wider stretches of the river in lower Assam.
It has taken some time for election authorities to wake up to the risk polling officers put their lives in. In September closing yr, 3 folks died and 11 went missing after a mechanized boat - just like the ones that ferry polling officers to their locations - sporting 40 folks across the Brahmaputra capsized here. However, no motion used to be taken to verify the protection of polling officers on account of value and unavailability of enough life jackets.
"In the (Assam) assembly election (in 2016), I was deployed for poll duty at a char area near Dalgoma in Goalpara district. But we didn't get any life jacket," said Dipankar Basak, a teacher from Barpeta street.
This time, he used to be assigned to a polling station in Marichakandi char house in Barpeta. He left for his polling station at 4pm on Sunday and reached on Monday at 1pm. "The sand bars prevent a direct entry into Marichakandi. Our boat steered through the Brahmaputra for nearly three hours today (Monday). The water is knee-high in some areas along the way. It is not easy. But this time, should any untoward incident occur, we have life jackets to save us," he added.
In a first, poll officials in riverine areas get life jackets
![In a first, poll officials in riverine areas get life jackets]()
Reviewed by Kailash
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April 23, 2019
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