Kolkata: Of the 59 French nationals who were eligible to vote at the European elections held at the French consulate premises on Raja Santosh Road on Sunday, only 16 turned up to cast their ballot. Of the rest, some had opted for ‘procuration’ or voting by proxy in which one can assign a voter registered on the electoral roll in France to vote on their behalf.“Posters were set up for the 38 parties that participated in the elections for the European Parliament where France has 81 seats. Voters were required to choose a party, place only one slip in the envelope, seal it and drop it in the box. The voting process in Kolkata was exactly the same in any French village where ballot papers are used. Electronic voting machines are used only in big cities,” said French consulate official Samuel Bouchard who at 26 was also the youngest voter in Kolkata.Of the 38 parties, seven received the minimum 5% votes to make them eligible for a seat in the parliament. The far-right National Rally party came out on top with 31.5% of the vote, more than double the share of 15.2% of the vote bagged by Renaissance party followed by the Socialists in third place with 14.3% of the vote. Following the result, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the dissolution of parliament and called for snap legislative elections.The Kolkata consulate is the only voting facility across 11 Indian states: West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and seven north-eastern states. Anyone wanting to vote was required to come down to the Kolkata consulate to vote. Postal voting was banned in France in 1975 because of fears of voter fraud.“Though only 55% of the electorate vote in European Parliament elections, it is the second-largest election in the world after India of course where the process concluded only recently and the government was sworn in on the very day we voted,” said Bouchard.The 16 ballots cast in Kolkata were counted in the evening and the result mailed to Paris. The envelopes have been sealed again and will be sent to Paris physically with the results to ensure that there is no irregularity.
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