Yaadein 1.0: Elections

Elections would seem a strange choice as the first topic among college memories. But, it was there in one of my first posts on this campus and the last elections just finished yesterday. Election Commission (EC) was the first activity that I took up in campus. Imagine being the second week in campus and the Chief Warden  is interviewing you at 9pm in his chamber.
Since Constitution Making Body was not a distinct entity then, drafting ability was also sought by EC. Guess the existence of this blog also helped me get in, aside from the tiny fact that no other girl had turned up :P Though as far as being able to type a decent notice in MS Word is concerned, it should be rigorously tested in EC inductions, I ended up writing most of them for three years. 

First year elections were easy, there was some power and little responsibility. Decision making was a collective effort, but sometimes made redundant by the boss. Got a little taste of politics, but more from listening to senior friends rather than EC experience. EC is the last one to be informed of dirty politics after all. Heard of a booze party being thrown to sway votes a night before and was saddened at the condition of democracy in college. Being the idealist that I was, I expected college to be free from the muddy tracks of Indian politics. Make no mistake, we are much better, but stains still linger. One of the glorious moments was a meeting in the conference room next to diro's office. It gave a thrill to sit in a meeting where all except 5 were faculty and to be served refreshments in fancy china.

Second year, EC was standing on two poles. That lean team still managed to make things work. That year while the sword was hanging over the Chief Election Commissioner's (CEC) head, a lot of responsibility came on my shoulders too. And I became the de facto option whenever he was not around. It meant many meetings with faculty and staff, running around for signatures on notices and fielding complaints from candidates. General Secretary elections were brutal that year, with regionalism being dominant. The CEC had to restrain the supporters from engaging into a brawl outside CH2. Vice-Presidential elections were a joke, with 4 out of 6 candidates being merely sources of entertainment in audi debates. One fine fellow talked about stray dogs in campus and another tried to evoke God after every sentence. During audience questions round, I had to snatch the mike from a couple of seniors. Emotions run high at that time and maintaining rules isn't easy. If we can bottle the energy during audi debates, I'm sure we can power the insti for a month.

There's more to this saga. Will write next time about my tenure as Chief Election Commissioner.