As the sun finally peeped out on Wednesday morning in South Africa, people of all ages, irrespective of class and colour, queued up excitedly. They weren’t lining up outside Kingsmead to watch the IPL teams practice ahead of Thursday’s match between Delhi and Chennai, but at the gates of nearby George Campbell polling booth.

Several primary schools across the city were designated as voting centres, and from 5 am to 9 pm, the crowds were animated and jovial, singing and dancing as they waited for their turn to press the electronic button.

Just four uniformed men, armed with pistols, guarded the polling station, making the security given to the IPL teams — three patrol cars with each team bus — appear slightly exaggerated. This is billed as the most exciting, closely fought election in the country since 1994, with the Democratic Alliance — the ruling party at the Centre expected to face some serious competition from the African National Congress. The IPL cricket tournament was shifted out of India due to security concerns because of the Lok Sabha elections, and even here polling has fallen right in the middle of the event. But unlike back home, elections here are a one-day affair — except for little posters sticking out on electrical poles, with smiling faces asking for votes on, the frenzy surrounding elections was strikingly absent until Wednesday. In the city of Durban, with it’s high Indian-origin population, the lead-up over the last week was completely different from how it is back in India — no rallies, no rigorous campaigning, no overzealous party workers out on the streets.

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