Babloo Sanapcheda wasn't able to vote today. The polling officer in Dehwa, Zubaid Akhtar, could not find Babloo's name on the voters' list. Babloo was confused, as he was armed with all the credentials. So was the polling officer, and neither was at fault. Every time Akhtar asked Babloo's name, he would reply: 'Babloo Sanapcheda, Sir.'' What Babloo wanted to say was that he was Babloo, son of Cheda, as he had been taught by his village pradhan. The voters' list that the polling officer was looking at, on the other hand, mentioned 'Babloo Yadav'. And, in the immense confusion created by electronic voting machines and voter identity cards, neither Babloo, nor Akhtar had time to sort out the confusion. In Dhawapur, Sarojininagar constituency, polling officer R.K. Sharma was furious with Babulal from Bibipur village. Babulal had just plucked out the voting machine from the table and turned it upside down to ascertain where 'all the votes were going'. In Kudha, Mohanlalganj constituency, 76-year-old Mansa Ram was angry with everything - EVMs, polling officers, his fellow voters. 'I have been here since exactly 10 am and the line has not moved an inch.'' It was 2.30 pm when Mansa vented his anger at Nathu by poking him with a sturdy walking stick. As tempers rose, the polling officer came out and explained his situation. 'The first lot of 20 women who came in the morning hasn't come out as yet, it is taking each of them more than 15 minutes to learn about the voting machines. And this is after spending another 15 minutes verifying their identities,'' said polling officer R.K. Gupta. In the absence of awareness about voting machines and identity cards, polling in most rural areas of Uttar Pradesh was confusing at best and messy at worst. While village pradhans had failed to do their duties, neither had government officials at panchayat and block levels, who had been delegated the responsibility of teaching villagers how to vote through EVMs, done theirs. 'No one told us about these machines,' says Ramkishori from Kubhara. 'Obviously it will take time to learn what has to be done with all those confusing buttons,'' she adds, justifying her prolonged innings fussing over the EVM. As Motilal Sharma, a constable, says: 'I have been noticing that many are learning today how to use EVMs. What is the use of advertising in newspapers when most of them can't read?' The confusion did not end there. Rakesh Kumar Yadav, a polling agent at Dehwa, says more than 30 per cent of the voters were sent back because they did not have the relevant documents to prove their identities. The Election Commission, which has made ID cards mandatory for these elections, has given the people 16 documents to choose from. These include passports, driving licences, PAN cards, ration cards, land revenue papers, bank papers and caste certificates. While there were many, mostly from poor, backward rural areas, who did not possess any of these documents, there were others who still managed to get it wrong. Barkhu, for instance, got his 'class two pass' marksheet from a primary school in his village, Kamlapur. Vehemently protesting that the poll officer had turned him away 'unfairly', Barkhu said: 'What can I do? I was told by the pradhan that if I show my marksheet, I will be able to vote. Now, officerji says my marksheet is not a valid document.' Rajjan Mistri says he went back to his village from the polling station four times to get the correct document. Every time he got the wrong one. That could explain why voting in Uttar Pradesh has not gone above 50 per cent. In the second phase of polling today, where the contest is in 145 seats among 1,958 candidates, the voting percentage has been even lower. While Lucknow recorded a low of just 37 per cent, Unnao registered 39 per cent. Kanpur didn't fare too well either with 40 per cent. When confronted with reports of the chaos in many rural polling stations, a senior home department official said the matter would be looked into and the officers responsible punished. But it may be another five years before Barkhu can vote, hopefully getting the 'right documents' that time.