All-women booths falter at first step

KOLKATA: Lack of washrooms, cramped polling booths, inadequate food and absence of bedding greeted the women polling officers who braved the heat and threat of violence to report to duty on Thursday. North Kolkata had 34 model booths, but a visit to the polling stations revealed a picture of apathy and neglect as several women polling officers sweated it out in a claustrophobic atmosphere.
Kankana Pal, a staffer of Handloom directorate at pol ling booth 123 in Taki Go vernment Girls' School said this was the first time booths were set up that were managed solely by women."Of course there are some basic infrastructure issues which the EC needs to sort out before the next elections. But the security is adequate for us," Pal said.
Rittika Chakraborty , presiding officer at polling booth 121 in the same school, was lucky to have a spacious polling station. "One of the major problems faced by us is the absence of experienced polling officers, due to which the process is a bit time consuming," Chakraborty added. Srotriyi Ganguly , another polling officer at the booth, said that the food arranged was inadequate. "Some toilets are not clean either," she added.
Some of the model booths at Jorasankho Thakurbari had small rooms. "Whenever there are more than 10 voters in queue, the room becames claustrophobic," said a polling officer.
The only differences between a model polling booth and an ordinary one were the presence of wheelchairs, a sitting-area for voters, abundant drinking water on offer and the colourful pandals.
Suchismita De, presiding officer in polling booth 56, said, "We had to sleep on the floor with just a blanket each.There was no food and we could not even take a bath properly even though we stayed overnight."
Only a few booths had ideal conditions. Rabindra Bharati University campus on B T Road had pedestal fans and colourful pandals to welcome voters. The rooms were spacious and there was enough food for every polling officer and police personnel.