I went to vote at 8 AM (on Apr 23 here in Bangalore) and finished in under half an hour because so few had turned up by then. We had this paper slip with booth number business too, but luckily there were multiple desks operated by each of the major political parties. The Congress desk was well organised. They had pre-printed, sorted slips with everyone’s name and with the name of their candidate in bigger type. The BJP desk a little further out was issuing handwritten slips. Since there was practically no one in queue there, I went over and got my slip in a couple of minutes. Under half an hour for the whole process is not a bad deal.

Another oddity: the signboard outside the booths listing the candidates and their symbols was entirely in Kannada. No English, and no graphical symbols against the candidate names. I can barely read the script, so even reading the full list of candidates was a major effort. (This was the case even in 2004, when it took me by surprise; this time I knew my candidates in advance.) This system is downright hostile to folks who are given a local listing within six months of moving anywhere, but not given a list of candidates in a script that is accepted nationwide. I’m curious whether this is the EC’s convention across India or just in some areas.

PS: In all my moving around in India in my adult life, for college/ b-school/ jobs, I voted for the first time ever in the UK. As citizens of the commonwealth we were allowed to vote in local and national elections.