Social distancing, guidelines thrown to wind
Govind Sharma
JAMMU/SRINAGAR, Nov 28: COVID guidelines were flouted openly at many polling stations in Kashmir as well as in Jammu and excitement overtook precautions as enthusiastic voters jostled with each other to cast their ballot in the first elections in Jammu and Kashmir after its reorganization last year.
Authorities had said that necessary COVID measures, including the use of masks and social distancing, have been put in place for ensuring safe polls but nothing was visible on the ground.
From not maintaining adequate distance while standing in queues waiting for their turn to vote, to basking in the lawns, the voters flouted the pandemic guidelines openly with most of them without face-masks or shields.
Health department personnel were deployed at the polling booths to check the temperatures of the voters and others using infrared thermometers, but sanitizers and masks at the entry points of most of polling booths were not available.
In polling station of Government High School (GHS) Kot Garhi, GHS Kotli Tanda, Panchayat Ghar Ganderwan and Government Primary School Sansaro Chhapri of Akhnoor Block in Jammu district, enthusiasm was so palpable among voters that they forgot social distancing completely and could be seen rubbing shoulders with each other while standing in the queue. However, masks were worn by most of the people lined up for voting except a few.
“In excitement of voting for the first time, I forgot to wear face mask while leaving my house for polling booth but I was hopeful that the staff at polling booth would have made arrangement of face masks for people like me,” said 19-year-old Abhishek Sharma at polling booth GHS Kot Garhi. However, he regretted that no such arrangement was visible and he had to go back home for wearing face mask as no social distancing was being maintained by the voters standing in the queue.
Similar scenes were witnessed in polling stations at Government Middle School (GMS) Khara, GMS Purmandal and Government Primary School (GPS) Khirdi. No circles were drawn by the poll officials outside polling booths for social distancing of voters and people were standing very close to each other in the queues. In most of the polling stations, no hand sanitizers were available.
Vivek Gupta, an educated young voter after casting his vote at polling booth GMS Purmandal, told that he demanded hand sanitizer from the polling staff before casting his vote but it was not provided to him by the polling staff, who said that they had only one bottle of sanitizer which had gone empty now.
The social distancing norms were also not followed in polling stations of Mandrian Block. Agents of the parties were also violating guidelines regarding face masks as they could be seen roaming in several polling stations including GHS Chowki Choura, GMC Chowki and GMS Bangla without wearing face masks. Even security personnel and polling staff were not restricting them from moving in polling stations without face masks.
In Thune area of the Ganderbal, four booths were clubbed together and housed at a cramped Panchayat Ghar. While the view outside – of river Sindh and pine-filled and snow-clad mountains in the distance – was beautiful, the sight inside the polling booth was off-putting.
Voters lined up, back-to-back, leaving no space in between, through a dark alley to a small room where the voting took place, without face masks – throwing social distancing and other guidelines to the wind. Security personnel occasionally asked the voters present to maintain distance.
Similar scenes were witnessed at Government Higher Secondary School in Hariganiwan area – where four polling booths were clubbed, Government Primary School at Haaknaar and Government Middle School at Rayil Gund – which housed seven polling booths. All these polling stations saw rush of people.
The pleas of officials and even media persons present had no impact on the voters and it seemed the pandemic was a thing of the past.
At the Rayil Gund booth, while dozens of the voters were waiting in line, without maintaining the social distance, several dozens of others were basking in the lawn and without face masks.
Police personnel deployed there blamed the agents of candidates for flouting the guidelines even as they repeatedly asked the people to keep distance and wear face masks.
Fayaz Chopan, a local near the booth, said the excitement of voting trumped the need to follow protocols. “We do not have many positive cases here, so people are not taking much precaution. And there is excitement among the voters and they are only concerned about the voting right now,” Chopan said.
A stark contrast to other polling stations was Government Higher Secondary School at Gund where the COVID protocols were followed visibly.
At the entry point of the polling station – where six booths were clubbed – an official was sprinkling sanitizer on the hands of everyone who entered inside, while also providing the face masks.
The voters were lined up keeping some distance in between and everyone wore masks. Many polling personnel even wore hand gloves.
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