DUBBAK: A man kept answering several mobile phones as and when they were ringing at the entrance to the polling station at Ibrahimpur in Medak district even as a posse of cops kept a watch.
“He is casting his vote. Call back again,” he was heard saying. He kept repeating the same every time a phone rang. The man was a volunteer and not connected to any political party but had taken it upon himself to keep the mobile phones of voters in safe custody. This is because mobiles were not allowed inside the polling stations.
The man did not make a note of whose phone was being kept in his custody. No details were sought of the owner of the phone and no slip was given. But, he had a way of returning the phone to the owners when they came out. He would ask the owner what his phone number was and give a call from his mobile to that number.
The phone that rang would be identified as the owner’s phone and it was handed over to him or her. The arrangement seemed perfect. Such volunteers were, however, not there at every polling station.
At many places, police were firm in not allowing phones inside the polling stations. Cops had an issue with a man who claimed himself to be a councillor and tried to walk into a polling station at Lachapet. He was asked to leave.