I woke up on 13th with a child like enthusiasm & knowledge that I was going to vote for the first time. I had checked & rechecked on mumbaicityelections.org whether I was registered or not. I had also applied for a change in address on the website. unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to collect my EPIC from Airoli.

My first stop was the place where my parents were registered, It was a frustrating 15mins when I saw that my family was registered but I was Not. Secondly, the person sitting to check tells me, “Madam, if your name is not in the LIST, you CANNOT vote”. I asked him a simple question,” what if i have a EPIC & my name is not in the list?”. He replied,” You CANNOT VOTE.”

“Welcome to the system” was my first though. I called up 1290 & found out the correct address of my polling booth.  The lady who answered was loud & obnoxious. She gave me the address as “Sector 25″  & on searching I found, no sec-25 exists. after 45 mins of going from booth to booth, i came to a school – SURPRISE SURPRISE,, SCHOOL NO 25!!!!!

Finally, i went in, identity verified & stuff, The GRAND FINALE:

I asked for 490- Form 17a. The lady in front of me asks,”Whose that? Whom do you want to meet?”

I went to the presiding officer, who looked like a pan stall owner & as expected, he gave me a blank look. I patiently explained about 49-O and he tells me, “WOH BILL PASS NAI HUA PARLIAMENT MAIN”.

I gave up. believe me, I gave up, voted for the the candidate I thought was the best & just pushed off from there.

If people inspecting at the polling booth are so ignorant about 49-O, what do we expect from the common man? We need to spread this information about 49-O like wildfire.The voting this time has been 50% in Mumbai, it will be more the next time.

Honestly, This experience has just made me stronger, because I am going to vote next time & I will vote for 49-O.

-Aakansha