I am a student who voted in the recent elections and it is my impression that the quality of training imparted to the poll officials was very poor. Since I was not satisfied with any of the candidates, I decided to make use of Sec. 49-O of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 and put it on record that I did not vote for anyone. But neither the polling officials nor the presiding officer knew anything about 49-O. Only when I showed the instructions regarding the same in the manual given to the presiding officer, he understood what I was talking about. It was clear that he did not even know that the information would be available in the manual. The manual (which is about 100 pages) given to all the presiding officers is a waste of money if the presiding officers do not know what is in them. The fact that I did not vote for anyone should have been recorded in the Remarks column on the voters list (Form 17-A), but the Remarks column already had some number written in it and so my non-vote was scribbled in whatever space was left. Though my sister and I both registered our protest votes in accordance with the law, I am not sure if they will be actually taken into account. Since the presiding officer was not familiar with Sec. 49-O, he might not remember our votes, in which case there will be a discrepancy between the number of votes shown on the electronic voting machine and the number of votes shown in the voters list and they will have a difficult time reconciling the two. I only hope it will not result in a repoll order.
Vishwas Krishna, member, Mysore Grahakara Parishat