On election day, EVM beeps add music to wedding bells

Brides and bridegrooms here were put to test on polling day and most passed out with flying colours. While some political leaders had asked ...

Brides and bridegrooms here were put to test on polling day and most passed out with flying colours.

While some political leaders had asked for a postponement of the elections in view of the marriage season, newly-weds, their relatives and friends were seen making a beeline for the polling booths on their D-day, putting to rest all speculations that the wedding bells would affect the turnout.

Major V.P. Verma, who was busy with his daughter’s wedding at a three-star hotel here, said: ‘‘All of us have cast our vote. No doubt, the wedding was uppermost in our minds but we could not miss out on voting either.’’ His daughter, Pinky, however, could not cast her vote.

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‘‘As I was not supposed to move out of the house before the ceremony took place, I could not cast my vote,’’ said Pinky. The bride might have missed but everyone in the Verma family said they had exercised their franchisee with much enthusiasm.

A similar scene was seen at the wedding reception of Rakesh and Purita Shah. ‘‘I was one of the first few to reach the polling centre in my area. If I had gone later, I would have got late for the reception,’’ said Rakesh.

Purita was, however, saved from the hustle bustle as her family belonged to Mumbai. Purita’s father Chiralal Thakkar was keen to know the turnout from the guests. ‘‘This is the most interesting competition in today’s politics and I think even outsiders are keeping a close watch on the trends,’’ said Thakkar.

At Shreeji Society, Karelibaug, where Jagruti Panchal and Ashish Shah were about to tie the knot, there was a sense of disappointment. Jagruti could not cast her vote because she was a registered voter in Surat city and Ashish’s name had not figured in the voting list in his poll centre here.

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‘‘I went to the centre with my brother but my name was missing from the list and so I couldn’t cast my vote,’’ said Ashish.

Not just the hosts, even the guests seemed to have come to the reception after having cast their votes. As I.C. Mehta and his wife Nutan, who had come to attend Pinky’s marriage, said: ‘‘All the morning engagements were scheduled in such a manner that we got time to vote. It was a crucial election this time and we didn’t want to miss it.’’

Others like Rajul Shah, who had come to attend a wedding at Green Park Society near Mujmohra, said he was proud to have exercised his franchise. ‘‘I have already told my family that voting should come before anything else,’’ says Shah.

But amid the frenzied wedding preparations, it was the hoteliers, caterers and other workers who missed out on their right to vote. ‘‘Since marriage celebrations started early, there was no way that we could go and vote,’’ said Pradeep Chauhan, deputy general manager of Surya Palace Hotel.