Indian Election Poem by Bijay Kant Dubey

There is nothing as that to strut and walk on tiptoe
As T.N.Seshan showed it to be,
Everything is but bogus and false,
Fake and fraud,
A story cooked and told.

The officials plan for big, big things in the cold rooms,
Official cars and receptions
But the takers reap the harvest,
Odd people bunched together,
Without being a magistrate, just in power for a day.

The block officials taking good dishes and tiffin packets
And you on the rear side of the truck or availing of somehow
Going to the nondescript village primary school through the muddy way
To take the poll.

And the primary school without the toilet
And even if it has, it is not in good condition,
How to get light, how to take food,
Where to sleep on, problems?

The ballot boxes given by the commission with
An intricate locking system,
Making the process complex with
So many envelopes
Which are but a nonsense.

Too much drama for an ultimate count up,
How many ballot papers,
What the tin box number,
The booth number,
The polling party number?

A volley of questions, a vortex of imagery,
Send the report every two hours,
Male electors who cast their votes,
The female voters who cast their votes
To the especially arranged for the sector office.

Who the duplicate voter, who the original,
On which finger to give the indelible ink mark over,
Plus and minus the sum total,
The ballot papers signed and unsigned packed into the envelopes
Of their type?

Packing the luggage and sealing the box, report to as for departure
And go with the party
To the sector office to deposit the things
Tallying with ditto during the night time
And they will after calculated properly

Otherwise wait for in the open
Tallying with the sum laboriously,
Dozing and doing Hare Rama, hare Krishna
With the heavy load of sealed boxes.

Seshan, your gambol and frolic, like I not,
Why to bluff about the Indian elections,
Had there been not the first election commissioner
And other chief election commissioners
And think of those IAS officers lying sidetracked
Who topped your batch?

Take the boxes and the bundles of papers and get ready
To start for an undestined destination, unclosed location,
Leave in the dark,
Eat not,
Arise before 6 a.m.of the morning
And start taking votes.

Without having breakfast in the morning and dinner
During the midday,
You take the votes,
If the lines and queues are there
And go on doing till the lines exhaust,
The bar time being 5 p.m. and even after
If they can be seen waiting.

So distraught and devastated with, I do not
Take a colourful view of the Indian elections
Rather think of simplifying,
Lock the box simply,
Total votes polled
And the rest unused ballot-papers.