At the polling station: The angry granny and the voting virgin

Amusing election day tales from NA-127.

LAHORE:

Waziran Bibi, 75, had voted for PML-N and PPP in previous elections. This time, she said, she wanted a new leader, one who could bring peace to the country and who young people had faith in. She wanted to vote for Imran Khan, who she admired for his bravery and honesty.

But Waziran Bibi is blind, so she had her grandson Adeel, 16, with her to help her vote at the Allama Iqbal Model High School polling station in NA-127.“When we were in the queue, she kept telling women to vote for PTI if they wanted change in the country,” said Adeel.

Her identity card checked and thumb inked, Waziran Bibi stood at the polling booth and instructed her grandson to stamp the bat, PTI’s election symbol, on the ballot papers. As he was about to cast the ballots, she asked him which symbol he had stamped. “Tiger,” Adeel responded, smirking.

Waziran Bibi was not amused. She began cursing (“I hope there’s nothing left of you!”) and beating Adeel, who seemed to find it all rather funny. Polling staff tried to pacify her and one of them checked her ballot papers. They assured her that her vote was going to PTI.

Relieved, Waziran Bibi thanked God, hugged her grandson, and told him he shouldn’t tell lies.

Ballot booth

The presiding officer at the Bright Way High School looked at Shakooran Bibi perplexed when she emerged from the polling booth empty handed, walked past the ballot boxes, and headed out the room.

“Where are your ballot papers?” asked the presiding officer. “I put them in there,” Shakooran Bibi said, pointing at the booth. Other voters and election officials at the polling station for women tittered and Shakooran Bibi blushed.

Sania Bibi, an election official, pulled Shakooran’s ballots out of a slot in the polling booth and helped her cast them in the appropriate ballot boxes. “I think it was her first time voting,” she said. “That’s okay. We’re here to help people like her who have never voted before.”

Tallest voter in NA-127

A crowd assembled around Abdul Waheed when he arrived at the Saleem Model High School polling station in NA-127 to vote for PML-N. At seven feet and four inches tall, he was easily the tallest voter around. “I don’t mind when people gather around me, especially when it’s children. They’re just curious,” said Waheed. He hoped that PML-N would win enough seats to form a national government.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2013.