Booth location remains a vital issue in Ahmedabad

AHMEDABAD: Uzair Sareshwala, a resident of Khushkhula Pole in the Walled City of Ahmedabad, is a worried man these days.
He is fearful of walking through a maze of houses to cast his vote in a predominently majority area.
With the memories of post-Godhra violence still fresh in his mind, Sareshwala wants relocation of his polling booth. He does not want to walk through a majority community area to cast his vote.
"We have to traverse through at least 100 houses belonging to the majority community in Dhanasuthar ni Pole and police cannot ensure cent per cent safety for all of us," says Sareshwala.
Many others harbour similar apprehension. The insecurity looms so large that a special branch of the Ahmedabad police had shot off a letter to the district administration, asking for the relocation of no less than 174 polling booths in sensitive areas.
Referring to post-Godhra violence, the letter expressed concern about "extreme communal discord" between Hindus and the Muslims and the consequent fear among the minority community members to venture out to polling booths deep inside majority-dominated areas.
The letter, signed by joint commissioner of police (special branch) listed out polling booths of Ellisbridge, Sarkhej, Naroda, Kalupur, Asarwa, Rakhial, Daskroi, Maninagar and Sherkotda as sensitive and requiring relocation.
For the Kalupur assembly segment, the police has suggested shifting of at least 32 of the 81 polling stations.
Instead of having the desired effect, the letter, however has sparked off a row. The Ahmedabad district administration is reluctent to comply to the request.
"Polling stations are never demarcated on the basis of religious and caste distribution," said a senior official. The police request, he feels, stems from the extra cautiousness, since the Election Commission had decided to hold the state chief secretary and the director-general of police directly responsible for any poll-related violence.
"At the eleventh hour it is very difficult for us to execute these suggestions, especially shifting polling booths is not advisable at this moment," said Gaurav Prajapti, sub-divisional magistrate (city) when asked about the letter sent by the police.
Stressing that maintenance of law and order was the job of the police, he insisted that shifting of 174 polling stations is a difficult job. It requires a lot of administrative procedure and consultation with the political parties.
District officials, he added, kept in mind several aspects including majority community members passing through minority-dominated area and vice-versa, before finalising the location of a polling booth.
"If we decide polling booths purely on the basis of religious identity of the voters, then there is a danger of revealing the voting pattern of a particular group," said Prajapati.
The police suggestion, he said, was ‘intensive’ and ‘impractical’ for a mixed kind of a population.
Alternative sites suggested violate the basic provisions of the Representation of People’s Act 1951.
As per the Act, it was not advisable to shift a polling booth outside an assembly segment, he added.