As an elderly woman struggled to climb up the ramp leading to the polling booth at the Fathima Matha Parish Hall in Elamkulam, three young Student Police Cadets (SPCs) rushed to her aid.
As she reached the entrance of the polling booth thanks to the support of the young girls in khaki uniforms, she wore a look of gratitude.
This was a recurring sight at all polling booths across the Thrikkakara Assembly constituency on Tuesday. About 124 SPCs were deployed across the 239 polling booths in the constituency to support the police in the smooth conduct of the polling. They were deployed at the booths nearest to their homes.
First experience
“This is our first such experience since joining SPC as the last two years were lost to COVID-19. We could not have been at a polling booth at this age if not for SPC,” said Mousumi Bar, a ninth standard student and one of the 7 SPCs from the Government Girls Higher Secondary School (GGHSS) deployed at two polling booths in Elamkulam and Kadavanthra.
A fellow SPC and her classmate Amruta Sree said that she had volunteered for the duty to enjoy the excitement of being part of an election.
Increased participation
“We had deployed 13 SPCs from our school. In fact, the response to our announcement seeking volunteers for deployment in polling booths was so overwhelming that the number of cadets expressing willingness for deployment far exceeded the requirement,” said Sanjay Kumar C., community police officer at GGHSS.
A little away at St. Raphael LP School, Palarivattom, Eby Manual Mithun, a tenth standard SPC from St. Albert’s Higher Secondary School, was sipping a chilled lemonade to beat the heat. For him, the deployment was but a perfect ruse to be away from home on the last day of vacation as schools were set to resume on Wednesday.
“This was our first such experience and perhaps the last since this is our last year with the SPC,” said Abhinav Krishna. Tom Chris, among the 10 SPCs deployed at the booths, has been watching the election process with wide-eyed enthusiasm from the morning even as he guided the voters who sought his help.
Helping elderly and physically challenged
“Our primary duty is to help the elderly and the physically challenged under the guidance of the police,” said Surya Sudhakar as he busied helping an aged couple after going through the slip of paper with the details of the booths. SPCs from ninth and tenth standard alone were deployed at the booths.
Incidentally, this was the first time that active SPCs were deployed as part of an election. “Usually, we deploy members of the Student Volunteer Core who have attained the age of 18 years and had been part of SPC. This has been the perfect setting to drive home the motto of SPC, which is learn to service,” said Sooraj Kumar M.B, assistant nodal officer for SPC, Kochi City.
The cadets who reached the polling booths as early as 6.30 a.m. left only after the polling was over.
