Pulwama voter’s ‘chai-biryani’ demand stumps top EC official

As the first phase of the much-awaited Assembly elections was progressing in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, the demand for ‘chai’ and ‘biryani’ in a video conversation between a top Election Commission official and few voters outside a polling booth in sensitive Pulwama is leaving people in splits.

The video, recorded in Pulwama’s Tral, one a militancy hotbed, has been posted on X by IAS officer BN Singh, who is among the large number of bureaucrats deputed by the Centre in J&K for the smooth conduct of Assembly elections, which are being held in three phases after a long gap of 10 years.

“Koi dikkat hui…. Sab arrangement theek tha na? (did you face any inconvenience… was the arrangement fine?),” BN Singh enquires from an elderly voter, who replies, “Nahin, koi dikkat nahin hui… sab theek tha (all was good).”

To everyone’s surprise, the elderly, clad in traditional Kashmiri ‘kurta-pyjama’, ‘sadri’ and a skull cap, asks BN Singh why no arrangement for tea and biryani was made. “Sab theek hai magar chai vai kuch nahin diya… kuch biryani viryani ka intezam bhi hona chahiye tha… subah se bhuke hain (rest all is good but there should also have been arrangement for tea and biryani too… we are hungry since morning),” the voter says, leaving all, including the IAS officer and his heavily armed security men accompanying the IAS officer, in a fit of laughter.

GELA-24. Tral-Pulwama (J&K): Some lighter moments during a sensitive election which was absolutely free, fair and peaceful. pic.twitter.com/Akm5F2mWjx

— BN Singh (@BNSinghIAS) September 19, 2024

BN Singh replies laughingly that making arrangements for tea and biryani wasn’t the government’s job, and that he (the elderly voter) could seek such comforts at his house. “The Election Commission is already working so hard. So many people are on the ground monitoring the situation… tea and biryani can happen some other time… Move around and ask others to come out and vote,” remarks the IAS officer as he wraps up the conversation.

BN Singh, who was the District Magistrate of Noida from 2017 to 2020 and under whom the land acquisition for the Jewar airport was completed, captioned the video as “Tral-Pulwama (J&K): Some lighter moments during a sensitive election which was absolutely free, fair and peaceful”.