Offering ‘puja’ to the ballot box by a party candidate before the start of polling is a practice not uncommon in rural Mysore, says a Deccan Herald report. It happened at Monday’s polling (Dec.19, 2005) for panchayat elections. According to the newspaper report, a party candidate, along with family members, turned up at Ilkal polling booth an hour before the start of polling and offered prayers in front of the ballot box. The candidate deified the box by smearing kumkum on it and offering mangalarthi. A similar ritual by another candidate was reported at a polling booth in Beerihundi zilla parishat constituency.
I wonder if the candidate was hoping that as the ballot paper slips through the slot in the ballot box, the vote gets converted in his name by scanning the paper to check if it has been cast in anyone elses name.
