Thane146;s dusty hamlets make room for EVMs

Seventy-Five-year-old Mali Amboa doesn8217;t like stopping for gossip on her way home from the rice fields. But this is an officious-lookin...

Seventy-Five-year-old Mali Amboa doesn8217;t like stopping for gossip on her way home from the rice fields. But this is an officious-looking jeep rumbling to a stop right in her path in the remote outskirts of Thane.

The message in Marathi is quick: 8216;8216;Get your friends and assemble8217;8217;. In minutes, Amboa has scurried around without dropping a single twig from the pile of dried wood on her head, and has gathered a few dozen clan members under a thatched roof in the Wagh Wadi hamlet.

As tehsildar Anjali Bhosle brings out a white box-shaped instrument, a tense hush settles on the group8212;in these parts, any sign of an administration is rare.

In fact, on day one, as officials began introducing the tribal electorate to the Electronic Voting Machine EVM, the reaction was one of nervousness. 8216;8216;They thought I was representing some political party,8217;8217; laughs Bhosle, recalling the litany of grievances she8217;d been offered 8212; poor roads, no electricity, among others.

Preparing for the largest democratic exercise in the world, bureaucrats in the district are reconciling to the magnitude of the task. This is Bhosle8217;s second day as interlocutor. With 1,88,743 voters scattered across the 208 villages in the hinterland of Murbad, 52 km from Thane city, her team has countless wadis or hamlets to cover.

8216;8216;Last time there were elections and you went to the polling booth, you cast your vote in the ballot box, right?8217;8217; Bhosle asks the gathering of illiterate tribals. The response is a mixed one: some nod their heads, others stare at her blankly.

8216;8216;This year, you8217;ll use this. No more thumbprints to cast your vote,8217;8217; the officer continues. A long pause follows. Bhosle will repeat this same line hundreds of times in coming month across the largely backward constituency, which saw a 52 per cent turnout in the last elections and sent a Shiv Sena MP to Parliament.

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Training on the EVMs begin and Ragi Maruti Khandvi 30 gamely walks up when a volunteer is sought. 8216;8216;Press your thumb against the sign you want to vote for. When you see the red light, release it. You8217;ve cast your vote,8217;8217; Bhosle instructs.

The EVM beeps and Khandvi jumps. It breaks the ice8212;8216;8216;shock naahi laagla8217;8217;it didn8217;t give a jolt8212;and everyone bursts into laughter. Over the next 15 minutes, there8217;s some nudging and pushing as everybody wants a go at the blue buttons for its sheer novelty.

Nagoname Wagh 65 is relieved there will be no more paper-folding technique to remember. 8216;8216;Never understood that,8217;8217; he grins.

But not everybody is convinced. 8216;8216;It8217;s not just the machine. We know you8217;ve come to tell us who to vote for. You8217;re all just the same,8217;8217; grumbles one young man.

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This time it8217;s the officer8217;s turn to wince. Bhosle has the responsibility to send out teams to meet the villagers. 8216;8216;With so many hamlets, we will be trudging around with the EVMs till the last few days before the elections,8217;8217; she smiles as she sets out for the next village.