By Admin 
Voting for the first phase of Bihar Assembly has been done. Now it is the turn of the second phase of voting, which is to be held on November 11. After this the results are to come on 14th November. On 14th it will be decided who will occupy the seat of power in Bihar. Talking about elections, today India’s democracy is riding on the fast pace of technology, but once this democracy was based on a pile of ballot papers. That era when every vote was counted not by machines but by humans.
When a small mark on a paper could change someone’s fate. The atmosphere of elections was as heated as it is today, but the wait for the results was much longer and more exciting.
How was voting done through ballot paper?
In earlier elections, the voter was given a big paper i.e. ballot paper, on which the names of the candidates and election symbols were written. The voter simply had to put a mark, either with a stamp, or with a pen or pencil, in front of the symbol of his favorite candidate. Then this ballot paper was folded and put in the ballot box.
How was the counting done?
After the voting was over, the real work of counting started. Every ballot box was brought to the counting center under security. There the seal was broken, then the papers were taken out one by one and the validity of the votes was checked. If the marks were placed at two places, or were at the wrong place, that vote was declared invalid. In this entire process, not only the election officials but also the agents of every party were present so that transparency was maintained.
Separate piles were made for each candidate. Each ballot was counted and then the numbers were added by hand. Even a minor mistake during counting could lead to a dispute, so officials worked very carefully. This was the reason that even counting of one Lok Sabha seat took not hours but several days.
In how many days did the results come?
From the 1950s to the 1990s, until EVMs were introduced, it took an average of 2 to 3 days to get results. Many times, if there was a dispute in the counting of votes or the difference of votes was very small, then the counting was done again, due to which the results were postponed for a week.
On the day of counting the atmosphere was like a festival. People used to listen to updates every hour through radio or newspapers to know who is ahead and who is behind. But no one knew when the final result would come. It was this election excitement that made the era of ballot paper so memorable.
difference between today and then
While now results are available through EVMs within a few hours, in those times it was a real test of both patience and transparency. Counting of ballot papers depended on human effort and not on machines. But it is also true that the same period laid the strong foundation of democracy in India, when the value of every vote, the meaning of every mark was understood.
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