The entire month was rife with the excitement of the elections. Although Gurgaon was covered in the 6th phase, the discussion was on long before that. The senior citizen’s group of uncles who met after the morning walk were seen having animated discussions about various issues and various candidates. Each one trying to convince the other of his point of view.
A lot of confusion was also seen among the residents of DLF 1 as many of them did not have their names on the list or had their voting centers divided into different areas. Even between the family members, the polling centers were different which created a lot of confusion and many of residents were not willing to make and effort of visiting far off centres.
However, the day of the voting was a scene of enthusiasm and energy. People queued up in front of the voting center as early as 6:30 am which was much before the booth opened. The people were seen flashing their Voter IDs and big broad smiles on their faces. As time progressed and temperatures started to increase, the crowds also grew and flocked to the voting center. There was a selfie point in the voting centre which was a popular spot for people to come and flash their inked fingers. Despite the confusion and hot weather, around 50% of DLF-1 voters went and cast their votes.
First-time voters were quite enthusiastic to exercise their right to vote. In a conversation with one such voter of DLF 1, he shared with us about how excited he was to use EVM. He also said that although issues such as jobs and the economy were not things that directly affected him but he felt a sense of national pride and was proud to get his finger inked.
The elections have truly been a festival celebrated by one and all putting aside all the cynicism and criticism.
