A large number of school teachers whose appointments had been cancelled by Calcutta High Court on Monday joined their election duties on Thursday although they were unsure of their future.
However, some teachers whose jobs were invalidated by the court haven’t joined election duties as they are under mental stress and cannot work at the polling booths.
Voting will be held in the Darjeeling, Raiganj and Balurghat Lok Sabha segments on Friday in the second phase of the general election.
Helarius Hembram, an English teacher at Ghoshpukur Ambari High School in Darjeeling district, is among those who didn’t skip the poll duty.
“I reported at the distribution centre in Siliguri and was told that I have been kept as a reserve staff member. I will be there till the polling is over tomorrow and if I am asked to join the booth as a replacement, I will definitely be there. It is true that I am spending sleepless nights but simultaneously, I cannot evade this responsibility,” said Hembram.
According to sources, around 300 teachers of the 2016 batch have been engaged in poll duties in the Darjeeling district.
Priyanka Guha, a teacher of economics in Debinagar Kailash Chandra Radharani Vidyapith of Raiganj, will work as the presiding officer at a booth in Raiganj Girls’ High School tomorrow.
“I am mentally devastated and don’t know the future of my job. But in the past two weeks, I took training to conduct the elections and thus joined the duty today, considering it as my responsibility,” Guha said.
“I got the job in a proper manner and I am confident that eventually, I will not lose it,” she added.
Rakesh Alam, a teacher of Thyangapara Higher Secondary School of Gangarampur in South Dinajpur, however, said they had to join the duties even though they were unwilling.
“Considering our present situation, some of us had requested the district electoral officer not to engage us in polling duty. But the administration didn’t listen to us and we have to reach the booths today,” the teacher said.
According to him, around 200 teachers of the 2016 batch will work as polling personnel in booths spread across the district.
Debapriya Karmakar, a teacher of Patiram Girls High School, also sounded depressed. “I got selected for the teacher’s job in a transparent way. But what has happened now was beyond our expectations. We are joining the poll duty with regret,” Karmakar said.
Others like Salim Jafar, a teacher of political science at Siliguri Boys’ High School, have, however, abstained from the duty.
He had joined the training conducted by the administration and was all prepared to work in a polling booth on the day of the election.
But the order of Calcutta High Court, he said, suddenly changed his life.
“The order has shattered my life. Though I was prepared to join the election duty, I rushed to Calcutta on April 23 to join several other teachers like me who are equally uncertain about their future,” he said over the phone from Calcutta.
Sources in the chief electoral officer (CEO)’s office in Calcutta said they had received the order on Wednesday evening.
“By that time, we had already sent polling parties because there are many far-flung places in these three constituencies. We don’t have any dearth of polling personnel but in this phase, we have nothing to do,” said a source.
“The polling parties will have to discharge their duties irrespective of their status. Now we are taking legal opinion and we hope to sort out the problem in the next phases,” the source added
Additional Reporting by Saibal Gupta in Calcutta