Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

198  Elections And Bhartiya School Of Business and Economics Part: 1 n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Dakshin Bhartiya Empire, the day of the election.

It was declared a national holiday by the government for the obvious reason that it was the day of the elections.

The candidates had been campaigning non-stop in the local areas. Although not yet mature, the style of future politicians could be seen in the shadows of these premature politicians. This political race also highly elevated the lower caste people, as there was a reservation for them of 30%. With a representative for every taluk and district of The Empire, these winners in the local areas could, in the future, move to higher heights as ministers of parliament. Each minister of parliament is a representative of a million people; hence, the parliament of the Empire currently has 35 vacant seats.

For the state parliament, it is different, as the proportion equal to that of the national Parliament was selected for the state Parliament. On average, a state parliament minister became a representative of anywhere from 100,000 to 500,000 people, depending on the state and population density of the area the candidate is campaigning.

*Step step step*

Neat, orderly marching steps rang out throughout every major city and town in the empire. It was the sound of trained, on-duty soldiers marching, in a neatly ordered formation. The elections were again held in various government schools of the Empire, mainly for their spacious infrastructure, along with their numerous use cases.

The security measures arranged by Kishore Balabhadra were heavier than what he had arranged for the civil examinations. Even if there is a mistake in the civil exam, the largest disaster that could happen is some candidates passing the exam due to malpractice. The worst outcome of this could be having an ignorant and unqualified person in civil service, accustomed to getting things for himself in an easier way rather than through hard work. Although it is also very damaging to the civil exam system, it is not the end of the world, as the person who cheated could always be caught during performance indicators.

However, once there is a problem with elections, like ballot box stuffing or more serious issues such as staff manipulating the voters, the consequences will be disastrous. Most likely, the candidate winning the election would not be a kind person if he went through the trouble of manipulating the votes and would go to any lengths to get what he wants, even if his path is filled with evil.

To be cautious, Kishore Balabhadra decided to utilize a total of 30,000 active soldiers as a security measure. Similar to how he handled the civil exams, he distributed these soldiers according to the voting density of people in an area. Polling booths had already been arranged 24 hours before the election. A special paper was also procured by the Raya and Shetty paper mill, which was specially manufactured for the sole purpose of elections. It was shipped in the morning at 4 am to different polling stations in the empire. Officers were placed in various polling booths of the Empire, waiting for the first voter.

Amravati, Amravati Public School, Polling Booth.

A man entered Amravati Public High School. He wore neat clothes, although not expensive or luxurious, it could be seen that they had been taken good care of. This person entered the polling booth after presenting all his credentials at the door where the military was stationed for proof.

"Name?" going inside, the officer at the polling booth asked.

"Hari Atharv," he said. Yes, this is the same Hari Atharv who worked at a bookstore to learn and improve his knowledge. By the way, he was also the same Hari who stood up for the election as a candidate. Fortunately, Hari was one of the 1,065,652 candidates who managed to pass the civil exams. He was very surprised by the result he got, as he had achieved a very good grade, almost in the top percentile. Although he had already expected that he would get a good grade since the question paper was very simple, he did not expect that he would make it to the top 5%.

Today, he had come to the Amravati polling station to cast his vote.

After the election officer heard the name, he searched through his documents and finally found the name. After verifying the details again, he led Hari inside the polling booth. When he got inside the polling booth, there was another person waiting beside the door who guided him on how to cast his vote. He was given a special kind of paper that contained a list of symbols along with names that he recognized to be his opponents.

Listening to the explanation from the officer, Hari nodded his head as the officer went back to his corner near the door. Hari Atharv brought the paper to the metal desk where it was positioned in such a way that the only visual of the desktop was from behind, where it was blocked off by a wall. The remaining three sides of the desk had elevated wooden planks to disrupt the sight of anyone looking at the person casting the vote.

Hari Atharv was very satisfied with the arrangements made by the observer. "Looks like a lot of thought went through in this election," he thought as he went through the symbols and names of everyone on the list. He found his name at the 12th position of the list with the symbol of a feather. He chose the feather as a symbol to signify his own beginnings as a lowly chicken rearer for the master and also to signify his importance to education.

After taking the wooden seal with a stamp written 'Vote' in red ink that he was provided with, he pressed the stamp on his own symbol. He folded the vote paper as instructed and dropped it inside the ballot box beside him. While leaving the room, which only had a single door, he also got a blue ink marking on his left index finger. He was doubtful about why he was inked, but soon he came to the conclusion that this may be so that once a person cast his or her vote, they would not be allowed again.

After reaching this conclusion, he tried to wipe the ink away to see if it would come off, but as expected, the ink did not budge even when washed with water. After Hari Atharv left, only three people were waiting to cast their votes. This is because even though 1,065,652 candidates are a lot, they are spread across an empire with a size of more than 1 million sq km. Hence, in small polling booths like the one in Amravati, the total eligible voters are only in the hundreds spread out throughout the day. Hari, who saw the voters, did a namaskar for them and did not forget to campaign, "Please don't forget to vote for the feather symbol." Voters who heard this smiled and nodded to show that they would.

More and more people turned up as voting was publicized as a fundamental and important right of a citizen. Not voting was considered equivalent to throwing away one's own voice from being heard. This is why, out of all the 1,065,652 candidates, the majority of them showed up to vote, leaving only a few hundred people who could not make it due to a variety of reasons.

During the elections, something historic also happened in the Dakshin Bharatiya Empire. All 10% of the women who had passed in the civil exams showed up to vote. Although women are not denied anything even in the ancient Panchayat system, they are still at a disadvantage when it comes to competition with men. This right to vote was seen as a once-in-a-lifetime chance, so the women of the empire did not miss the Opportunity. Also, their being allowed to vote did not cause an uproar in the empire, as Vijay also came up with a special Voting Act according to which women would lose their right to vote during emergency situations, like during a war. Vijay implemented this after remembering what happened in Ukraine in the 21st century. Even though the women of Ukraine were not responsible for anything that happened during the war, that situation clearly signified that for most of human existence, women were not allowed to vote. It is because for most of human existence, people have been at constant wars, and more likely than not, it was always the man who ended up dying in wars, just like what happened in the 21st century as all the women were able to evacuate warzone's in Ukraine while the men were required to fight the war.

The first woman who voted in this election was a 23-year-old Deepika from the Guntur district of Kakatiya Puri state. She had been a merchant's daughter, which was one of the reasons for her literacy. Her husband being open-minded was also one of the reasons for her being given permission to study and write for the civil exams. Her husband works as a captain in the army, and being enlightened with more liberal ideas, he did not even stop Deepika from accepting the offer given by the Ministry of Trade and Commerce after she passed the civil exams on the condition that she quits the job after their children are born.

The voting ballot used by Deepika to exercise her voting rights would later be preserved and displayed in a museum, titled "The First Female of the Bharatiya Empire to Vote, voted through this ballot." The decision to use a physical ballot rather than a voting paper was made to maintain transparency and fairness in the election process. In contrast to some other systems, where individuals may have to declare their votes, the Bharatiya Empire's approach ensures the secrecy of each voter's choice.