25th
September
As obvious
as it may seem to the readers, the recent LG Elections made headlines with
voters exercising their franchise. I was deputed to one of the polling
stations in south Thimphu. Khasadapchu MSS was the polling station where the
largest numbers of voters (726) in Thimphu are enrolled.
The very first meal |
I had
pre-arranged a large rice cooker, a curry cooker, some bowls and provisions for
the nine of us in my team. We started cooking towards the evening. The huge
hall had lots of tables besides the ones that we had already arranged. So Lopen
Tshering and I arranged a small corner as dining table for the team. We ate
broccoli stew, rice and boiled eggs with some pickles for dinner.
26th
September 2016
My Station |
Waking up at
7 we washed our faces and by the time I woke up my security police –lopens had
done preparing breakfast. After the meal, arranging of the machines and
materials had to be done and this was the very reason why we had to be a day
ahead at the polling station. The morning, we spent on making things ready and
in the afternoon, some of us slept as we had difficulty sleeping in such a
large hall.
27th
September 2016
My team |
Waking up
early and getting ready was a mandate and after doing that we found ourselves
conducting the mock poll before our team. After the mock poll, people were
lining up even before 9 AM. Candidates had to be present during the mock poll
but they weren’t around. A full day of voting gave us exactly 420 voters out of
726. We declared the results and reported it to the ECB and called our day off. The next day as I collected my perks for the duty, the amount freaked me out. I was underpaid. But nevertheless, there was pleasure as well as pressure, so measure for measure, the pleasure far outweighed the pressure.
Oh! How I missed my two little kids at home…there’s nothing like home be it under a bridge.