08 May,2009 09:04 AM IST | | Surender Sharma
Many couldn't vote as they were not allowed inside booths with cellphones
Cell-happy Delhiites were in for a rude shock on Thursday. Many voters had to return from polling booths without casting their ballots as securitymen didn't allow cellphones inside.
Allegedly, the Election Commission had not made proper arrangements for voters to keep their phones outside the booths while casting their votes.
"I have come directly from office. I did not know I was not supposed to bring my cellphone to the booth. Now, the security personnel are not allowing me to enter the polling station with my phone.
I have no choice but to return without voting as my house is two kilometres away," said Narender Kumar, who works with a private firm in Noida and had come to cast his vote at ITO.
Shubhang Gupta, a voter from East Delhi who could not cast his ballot, was miffed with the poor arrangements. "It is absurd. Where should I keep my phone?
There are a number of advertisements urging people to cast their votes. But surprisingly, none of them informed that voters won't be allowed to take their phones inside," said Gupta, outside his polling booth at Gole Market.
Many voters had heated exchanges with security personnel too. They were ready to switch off their phones, but all efforts went in vain. "It is an order from election officials. We are helpless," said a polling booth security official at ITO.
When contacted, Chief Electoral Officer, Delhi, Satbir Silas Bedi, said, "We have followed Central Election Commission orders.
And I don't think someone who has come to vote will return or feel troubled over not being allowed to carry a cellphone. These are preventive measures which we have to take."
