Officers and voters responsible for successful elections: District commissioner

Mangaluru: Election and counting of votes has culminated successfully in Dakshina Kannada district. The election process has been conducted effectively and peacefully under the full leadership of the district election commission. Dakshina Kannada district commissioner Shashikant Senthil, who was in-charge and managed the elections, has said that the officers and the voters are responsible for the successful elections. Here is his conversation with Dinesh Ira of Udayavani, translated from Kannada by Aaron Dmello.

How did you manage the elections in Dakshina Kannada?

Election is a festival of democracy and the teams of officials of all levels have effectively managed to make it a success.  Amidst that, like the pride of Dakshina Kannada district, all political parties from here have cooperated with us with extreme discipline. All the voters in the district have completely cooperated and have managed to achieve a good election.

What is the reason for the elections success?

During other time, officers used to come to the office in the morning and leave in the evening, on this occasion had to spend whole nights on the road. The district administration has worked to provide support and enthusiasm to them. Through the cooperation od SWEEP and other methods, a good level of voting has been recorded. At all the places, mature officers have managed the work making the election a total success.

Did you face any problems while managing the election?

Of course, during elections a few problems do turn up. What is special is that during this time’s election, no such big problem turned up. This time there was no such situation occurred that would cause a problem during the day of election. Sometimes, at some booths, the voting machines can malfunction due to which re-voting has to be done. But, this time, no such problem arose. A few parties have given complaint regarding the EVM’s. But, they have no complaints against the election process.

Yet, is this election a challenge in one way?

 Since there were a lot of people this time, it was challenging to post the officers effectively. There was also the question of familiarizing the people with VVPAT. We have mostly created an environment within the booth where the voter need not ask on what that is.

How was the response of the political parties in the district?

As soon as the elections were announced, all the political parties in the district have properly responded to all the programmes and plans of the district administration. Due to this it was possible to freely conduct the special campaign programme. If it was another district, the parties will say that they are with the district administration but they do not take part in it. But, in Dakshina Kannada district, all the parties took party on the call of the district administration.