Elections

All through my life, I had held various positions of responsibilities. School head boy, house captain, class monitor, Gen Sec…….but all of them were linked through one common thread : They were all selected positions, not elected. I had never ever stood in an election. And hence when the time came for the election of the Students Affairs Council (SAC) secretaries, my eyes lit up. I knew here is another chance for me to do something which I had never done before; IIMA is going to give me another first in my life !

The SAC consists of 8 secretaries representing diverse spheres of activities, namely Recruitment, Cultural, Sports, Acads, Media, IT, Mess and the Gen Sec himself. Once I made up my mind to stand for the elections, the next decision was not very tough. There was no doubt in my mind that I will contest for the post of Sports Secy. Sports is a field about which I have always been very passionate. And I had strong opinions about how the sports infrastructure and opportunities at the institute could be made better. After the Sangharsh victory, I knew that there is no dearth of sporting talent at IIMA. And despite the huge academic load, people do take out time to indulge in their fav sports. All this was motivation enough for me to apply for this post.

Application submitted, the real test then began. I can say with confidence that the next few days were the most hectic and tough days for me in the third term, except for the time I spent working for Chaos. And since there was not much gap between Chaos and the elections, I was on my toes for almost the entire first month of the third term. And all this does not include the long hours that needed to be put in for academics, which was in some ways first term revisited. Anyways, I will come to that in my next post.

So why was this period crazily hectic ? ok, so here it goes ! After filing our candidature, the next step was to come up with an election manifesto that needed to be uploaded by a certain deadline to our central server. I had to spend considerable time on preparing the same since each and every point written there would later on be scrutinized by everyone. Once this was done, the next step was Campaigning – the most hectic period. I had prepared a 10 min pitch highlighting the central areas of action that I would act upon if selected. Campaigning did not mean the “Vote for Vinz” slogans ! Neither did it mean explaining to people why you are the best candidate for the post. All it meant was to put forth your agenda of what you intend to do for the students and the institute if selected.

Now, the aim was to ensure that all fellow fachchas (only fellow batchmates are allowed to vote; not the seniors) have heard my pitch. This in turn implied that I had to go to each of the 23 dorms and catch hold of as many people as I could and pitch to them. Since its practically impossible to find everyone in the dorm at the same time, I had to keep track who I have missed out and make repeat trips to those dorms. All this meant that every day, till the end of campaign time, I had to make multiple visits to all dorms to deliver my pitch. I had to compromise on my studies and group work and 24 hours started to seem less. But this was not my story alone. Every candidate for every post had to undergo the same routine. Just imagine the plight of poor batchmates !! They had to listen to the pitches of 25 odd candidates day in and day out and towards the end, it seemed that all that the people on campus were doing was either delivering pitches or listening to them! Some dorms even went a bit whacky as they put down “pitching rules” on the dorm blackboards: 5 min or less, all votes guaranteed; 5-10 min, few less votes and so on ! ha ha ha……I can understand how tiring it was for them. I remember in the end how I would literary drag people out of their rooms to listen to the pitch J

Anyways, once the campaigning time was over, the last step before voting was the “Soap Box”. It takes place in a classroom where every candidate appears before an audience (comprising of fachchas as well as tuchchas), delivers the pitch and then answers sharp and probing questions thrown at him/her. The entire event is video recorded and essentially measures how well the candidate is prepared for the post and whether he/she can withstand pressure and maintain calm while answering challenging questions. The Soap Box is intended to help the voters make a much more informed decision. Mine went quite decent I suppose, I was able to answer almost all questions thrown at me satisfactorily.

And finally the D-Day arrived ! Voting started in the evening. Turnout was nearly cent percent and after 2-3 hours, counting began for each post. I remember how we all were gathered outside the classroom, chatting with each other, trying to quell our anxieties ! After every 15-20 min, one result would be announced – cheers, jubilations and of course, bumps would follow ! And then it was the turn of Sports ! My fellow candidate was a strong favourite, and deservedly so. He is one of the best sportsman on campus and has good experience in handling such posts in the past. But somehow I felt confident inside and waited with bated breath ! 20 min of agonizing wait, and the results were finally out. I was beaten quite comfortably. It took time to sink in. I at least expected the margin of defeat to be very narrow. Alas, that was not to be.

But I was happy for him. I had no regrets in losing out to a person who completely deserved the victory. His passion, commitment and humbleness are his biggest strengths and I was sure the post has gone into the right hands. I got reminded of a statement one of my friends had made prior to the voting : “Irrespective of who wins, we know that Sports at IIMA would be in safe hands”. It was an honour for both of us.

I was selected to the Sports committee later on and now it is indeed a great pleasure and experience to work with the team together. We have already hosted few events in the third term and will be working out on plans for the coming year.

The elections were a great experience. The frenetic pace at which I had to work was killing, but it was once in a lifetime moment. I made friends with so many more people in my batch; that was one of the biggest gains. The highs and lows have etched themselves as yet another unforgettable experience of my life at IIMA.