On Friday, While numerous polling stations assured accessible elections, a many still fell suddenly reality check revealed some polling stations were ill-set, failing to offer indeed the introductory facilities. Ramps for wheelchair users at polling stations may be a common sight, but at Sadashiva nagar HKES Veerendra Patil College, senior voters preferred painful climbing of stairways at the entrance rather than the steep ramp without the rails on the right side with pots lined up below.
Elderly people and those with disabilities readily used wheelchairs made available in all polling stations, but shy seating in numerous places meant voters stood for long hours some in confined, inadequately-lit places. This was the case at St Joseph's Indian High School, where people queued up at 7:30 am. Booths acted else in the way they handled mobile phones.
At Horamavu Agara's Millennium School, and one of three polling booths at Gavipuram's Nivedita School, security personnel rigorously enforced the 'no phones inside' rule. They asked voters to leave the phones outside the rooms. A voter peaked in through the window to click a picture of the voting process at a government school in Dollars Colony, but security persons snared the phone and deleted the images.
In other areas, the rules weren't rigorously enforced. Unstable distribution of voters was apparent in stations with multiple booths, performing in long-winding ranges outside certain cells. Voters endured the scorching autumn sun and swirling dust demurred up by passing vehicles while staying in the line. At Gandhi Bazaar's Tin School, over 1,180 voters stood at one booth in the single storey building while the other one had 675.
The entrance to one booth had a long line, while in the other people entered in single digito all afternoon. Without a shelter, numerous huddled under near trees, breaking up the line into lower groups that stood under the building's roof.