New Delhi: The airline Vistara received an unusual booking request at noon Tuesday — “Mr Ballot Box” would be occupying seat number 3E on flight UK-637 from Delhi to Chandigarh that evening.
In the next few hours, a few other airlines got similar booking requests for namesakes of Mr Ballot Box who would be travelling to Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Puducherry, and several other destinations.
These are ballot boxes that are to be used in the presidential polls, scheduled to take place on 18 July. The President of India is elected by an electoral college consisting of MPs from both Houses of Parliament and legislators from states and Union territories.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) Tuesday sent ballot boxes, accompanied by state-level election officers, to 14 states and Union territories, a senior ECI officer based in New Delhi told ThePrint. The first flight, the one to Chandigarh, departed at 5.10 pm Tuesday.
The comfort of Mr Ballot Box during the trip has evidently been a priority this year. In earlier years, he often used to travel to other states as hand baggage of officials supervising him. But this year, the commission has booked two-way tickets for him.
ThePrint Tuesday saw three flight tickets booked for persons named “Mr Ballot Box” — it’s always ‘Mr’, never ‘Ms’. The booking details give an impression that the passenger doesn’t mind travelling in economy class but has a thing for the front row, which usually has more leg space. “It is more for security reasons than anything else,” said the ECI official.
After the 18 July polls, they’re all supposed to return to Delhi in 24 hours. When the votes are counted on 21 July, these boxes will play a major role in determining whether Droupadi Murmu or Yashwant Sinha will be the next occupant of Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Election officers occupy the seats adjacent to the ballot boxes. The officers are entrusted with transporting ballot papers and special pens to mark votes, according to the ECI official quoted above.
‘Fascinating journey’
In a press statement issued Tuesday, the ECI said, “Ballot Box has a prominent role in the process of presidential elections — being no ordinary box, as it is to hold the fate of the highest office of the largest democracy on the planet. Thus, the mandated procedure specifies special caution during the transportation, storage, and use of these boxes. Particularly for the conduct of presidential elections, the process also involves a fascinating journey of Ballot Box reaching every state capital.”
It further said: “During the transportation, the Ballot Boxes fly on a separate air ticket booked in the name of ‘Mr Ballot Box’ seated in the front row of the aircraft beside the seat of the officer transporting the materials under personal supervision.”
The ECI officer quoted above further said, “The commission had acquired this special right in 1969 from civil aviation authorities. The steel ballot box is carried in a wooden box. The boxes are meant only for the presidential elections and remain in the custody of the commission throughout the year. Once the ballot boxes land in Delhi after the presidential polls, they become the responsibility of Parliament security and the Delhi Police”.
Secretaries of state legislative assemblies are often appointed as assistant returning officers (ARO) for the presidential elections. The AROs or their representatives usually accompany these ballot boxes on their flights.
For this purpose, a separate control room is created to guide officials accompanying the boxes at every step, said the ECI officer, adding that officials of the commission, the civil aviation ministry and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) are engaged in the temporary control room.
(Edited by Rohan Manoj)
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