Charangattu Dasan: Only one

Thiruvananthapuram, May 10: Kerala’s 20 Lok Sabha constituencies recorded a voter turnout of nearly 70 per cent today, with at least one election booth witnessing 100 per cent polling.

The reasons for this impressive statistic are not hard to find: booth 159 in ward no. 4 of Kooranchundu panchayat in the Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency near Kozhikode has but one voter.

Charangattu Dasan, a retired watchman, voted a little after noon today, with the state having assigned three polling officials, two policemen and a driver for election duty deep inside the forest especially for him.

Booth 159 has relied on Charangattu estate for its numbers, with 300 voters exercising their franchise at one time. Dasan, hailing from Pampady in Kottayam, came to the estate as a watchman in 1968, but stayed on even as other workers left the estate as it began to run up losses. When the rolls were last revised, the booth had four voters, three of whom moved to the town booth.

But Dasan, a 65-year-old bachelor, was not prepared to leave his near idyllic conditions, saying his five cows are better companions than fellow men and keep him going.

Not wanting to make the election officials wait all day, the retired watchman put his cows out to graze and set out to walk the 3 km to the booth at the Kerala State Electricity Board office, about 14 km away from the nearest Kakkayam town. However, it was past 12 when he reached.

On election-eve, booth presiding officer N.K. Nambiar had said it would be a novel experience for him and his colleagues to wait for a single voter. However, officials had to keep the booth open until polling officially ended even if no more voters were expected.

The presence of the single-voter booth has prompted the question if it wouldn’t have been better to attach Dasan to another booth. Also, the secrecy of the ballot would be undermined since counting his vote would reveal who he had voted for.

The Kozhikode collector and returning officer said the booth was set up in line with guidelines to ensure that voters do not have to travel more than one-and-a-half km to cast their vote.

Dasan had been ready to vote at the nearest Kakkayam booth if only election officials provided him transport to reach there. But regulations did not permit this.

Polling was slow across the rest of Kerala, with rain playing spoilsport in several places. Four people died on election day, which also witnessed a stabbing, some faulty electronic voting machines and delays in voting.

Exit polls have put out conflicting forecasts. While Aaj Tak sees the ruling United Democratic Front winning 12 seats and the Left Democratic Front eight, STAR News gives the LDF 13 and the UDF seven. Sahara’s figures are similar to Aaj Tak’s.

Leaders of both fronts have claimed victory as has the BJP, which is yet to open its account in the state.