Voters in Kandivali (East) doubled up as volunteers to steer a long queue at Thakur Shyamnarayan School on Monday afternoon. While the school faced a mismanaged, two-km-long queue earlier in the day, it was resolved by the residents.
Rajendra Gupta, a resident-turned-volunteer, said a crowd had gathered at the school by 9 a.m. Over the next two hours, Mr. Gupta, along with several other residents of the area, started directing the voters to their polling booths.
Deep Desai, a resident of Thakur village, said, “When we stopped by at 9 a.m., there was an extremely long queue and it looked like we would have to wait for at least an hour-and-a-half. We returned at 11 a.m. to find it more manageable and were done in 45 minutes.” Mr. Gupta said senior citizens were being directed to a separate queue. “They were confused due to lack of proper signages outside the school.”
Police officials said the voting process was peaceful. “The morning hours saw a crowd, but there was no sign of chaos.” We saw that people were happy to be able to vote,” said police inspector S.R Bobale, Samata Nagar police station.
A lot of first-time voters added to the turnout in the constituency this year, said Mr. Gupta. “We’ve taken it upon ourselves to be here until the evening. It’s the least we can do,” he said.