Saturday, February 11, 2012

I WANT to cast my Vote!! But with my Voter ID Card!

Hi!
My dear Countrymen and Friends!
This post is written to vent my agony ;-),distress, anger :-O and all other feelings mixed together ;-)!
I am Upset! ;-) Reason? You' ll come to know at the end of this post.
Warning 1:-This is a biiiiigggg post.So,don't skip and go to the end of the post, read the reason,yawn ;-) and get away from my blog.Stay tuned to read the sad tale;-) of  my Voter ID card.I promise you that this story can evoke better emotions in you than our stupid mega serials ;-).
Warning 2:- Don't think that I am so dumb to get overexcited to vote for super hot UP elections;-) when I am a resident of Maharashtra;-)
I am talking about upcoming  Pune civic polls.

A slight digression from the main story is required here to tell the history of my Voting obsession;-).
The root cause of my problem lies in the fact that - I love to exercise my basic right- To vote.
But the Obstacles I face ...Uhhhhhh......
I never had a ID Card till I came to Pune. Stupid Reason- We were tenants and House owners never gave proper acknowledgement  to save their Tax :-( So No ID Card for me.
In Ahmedabad,I voted without any ID Card by fighting like a tigress:-) with officials in the Polling booth.
My silly;-) argument was :- I am Mrs.Rajendra(!!!).He has a ID Card.If necessary,I ll show my Marriage photos to prove that I am his wife.The polling officer who was not at all interested in seeing my Marriage album;-) allowed me to vote helplessly and gave Rajendra a Sorry Look:-) I could read his expression."Oh!God! Is she your wife? Poor Chap!" But Who Cares?.  I was successful in my Mission.
Stunned Rajendra:-) gave me a quizzical look "Padma! How could you be so Illogical in your argument."
I gave a Victorious smile which further irritated him.;-) "But I could cast my Vote!I am not doing any Bogus Voting.Right?".Gave a wonderful ;-) smile to Rajendra which could easily shoot up his BP.:-)
This is just a sample for my Voting Obsession and I warn ;-) that I can go to any illogical extent to exercise my basic right.:-)

Now...Back to the main Story.

In 2006 ,when we shifted to Pune ,I was excited to get registered for my Voter ID card because now I have got all the necessary documents to prove that I am an Indian:-).

When the Voter ID drive was announced in our area, overexcited 2 souls - my MIL and myself rushed ;-) to the centre as if we were running for 100 m dash;-) to get a olympic medal and stood in the queue.we were  very happy and beaming with pride with all the documents in hand. My MIL told me how our photos in ID card look at least 100 years older;-) than our present age."That's OK" I told myself.What if I look older in the card.I will have a card.
To our great relief,one of the officer said,"Madam! Due to lack of time and heavy rush,we will not be able to click your photos,please submit your photographs along with forms,we will scan it to our database and link it with your ID card".
I filled the form,pasted one of my best passport size photo as if it was for a prospective matrimonial alliance    ;-) , attached all the necessary documents, submitted and asked them,"When will I get the ID card?" Officer smiled at me."15 days!" I couldn't believe my ears!In 15 days I will be having a Voter ID Card.
After the registration exercise,entire team vanished:-) and after 15 days we enquired a party volunteer who was active in this process.She gave a sweet smile.ID cards have come to our Housing Society Office.Can get it from there".This statement was enough to trigger another startling :-) 100 m dash :-) performance by my MIL and myself to the office and to the clerk's dismay we started checking the bunch of cards like possessed ones;-):-) .We shuffled entire bunch, scanned one by one.Our cards were not there. Disappointed!:-(. But my co sister preet's card(of course with wrong spelling:-)) was there, :-(:-(.;-)..(Rubbing salt to the wound? ;-):-)).

MIL and I exchanged a puzzled look and transmitted the same look  to our volunteer friend.She consoled ;-) us "Don't worry!your cards would have got misplaced(??!!).Your names are in the Voters list.Your cards detail will be in electoral database.So take any of your ID proof .Go and cast your vote.After elections are over,you can get your cards in Swargate Office." So,that election I voted without a Voter card but with a ID proof :-)
And we went to cast the votes with our ID proofs.Preet flaunting her voter ID card while voting just added to my mental agony;-)
After elections,there were no signs of card,so we knocked all possible doors for six months for info.
One fine morning,our good friend called us over phone"Please collect your cards from Swargate office.We heard that some(???) cards have come there." Oh....What a pleasant news. Immediately my MIL and myself adorned crispy cotton sarees to celebrate the occasion and also to give a NETA ish  touch ;-) to our mission and reached Swargate office in such a short time which could have easily found way in Guinness book if  had monitored properly.
We found some 2 or 3 confusing queues and after wasting an hour we found the proper queue,waited for our turn with suspense.When our turn came,we checked for our names.
The super cool officer told us "Madam! Your cards are not there! May be your details would have got deleted when some of our database got erased(??!!) accidentally!" :-O .
My shocked Brain ;-) found it difficult to frame a question but somehow managed to ask ."But what about our cards"
"Madam! I think you have to register again!"Such a Careless attitude!!!.
"Register Again???"....
I was coping with my first Heart attack ;-) when I heard my MIL whispering in my ears "Padma! Hold me! lest I will kiss the ground". Oh! No!!!!!! I held her tightly.We returned to our home with pitiably crumpled cotton sarees;-) like our mood.
After Loksabha elections and cards fiasco,we had lost interest in the entire process and again regained our energy for the UID drama three months back but till now no signs of UID card also.:-(
Now Civic polls are nearing and I want to cast my vote but with my Voter ID Card :-(.
I grabbed one of the pamphlets of a candidate and found a website address for searching voter names in the list.Could find all of our names in Voter's list except my co sister's.Shocked!..Last time she was the only one in our family to have Voter ID card but this time her name has vanished from the list itself.(!!!) How is it possible? Quite confusing.
This can happen only in our country.
But what about my card?Will I ever be able to vote with my card.Even if I get a card,Is there any guarantee that my name will not vanish from the list. Mind Boggling questions!

CU in my next post(hopefully with a voter ID card)!:-)



8 comments:

Prasanna's Pen Speaks ... said...

Good experience Padma.... in my case its different.. I and myy husband both in same house..(!...)both of us are having different address....my voting booth is near to my residence.. but his voting booth is abt 4 km from our place...ofcourse its all in the game...

Anonymous said...

good experience. once u get unique ID card u can ignore all cards.whether ashtekar is having a card, appa

Padma said...

Thank u prasanna! both of u having different address?:-)everything is a mystery;-) in voter id cards.

Padma said...

Thank u appa for reading my blog!only preet has id card in our house.:-)

Rajendra said...

I know how passionate you are about voting & the voter ID. I can feel your agony in your blog. You will get ; your Voter ID one day. God is great. Have faith :)

Raja said...

Someone would have deleted Preeti's information from the database by mistake on a friday night before going to a party? In your case ..they would have entered the information in the database from the form and put the form in a trash bin! ...fantastic process..besh besh!!

Padma said...

Thank u Rajen for ur comment and for ur faith;-)

Padma said...

Raja! Thank U! I couldn't find preet's name in website bcos,her middlename had changed to Ravichandra(!!!) ;-) in the list.