India: Parliamentary Elections,1996
Counting of votes had begun for the Union Parliamentary elections, which would last for three days. Millennials & members of Gen Z may not know it took that long for all results to be declared. They may believe it or not – viewers then only had one option to check out election results – the state-owned Doordarshan (DD).
India waited to watch the LIVE coverage on DD. That year, the election special coverage was jointly produced with a private news network – New Delhi Television (NDTV).
The NDTV team after the election results in May 1996
It was my first experience in election programming on television, and I was excited to play a part in the complex programming plan to connect all of India LIVE. It was a logistical nightmare, requiring extensive planning and elaborate checking of video and audio signals coming into the central hub at Asiad Village in New Delhi. DD’s engineers worked tirelessly with the NDTV crew to make it happen as seamlessly as possible.
Behind The Scenes
I was assigned a role in the data entry team at the Central Production Centre (CPC) to feed the results coming to us via National Informatics Centre Network (NICNET). The data needed to be keyed into a software application which would reflect as graphics on the television screen.
Each computer terminal at the Data Centre was assigned to a team of two – a NDTV staffer supervising an intern – for the seamless broadcast of election results.
A few hours after counting votes had begun, in a momentary lapse of attention, the intern who partnered with me pressed the wrong key. The software application required selecting a Y or N key to denote leading, trailing, won, or lost. By mistake, his finger touched the wrong key. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a glaring error.
The ticker at the bottom of the screen showed PV Narasimha Rao, the incumbent Prime Minister trailing from his constituency. I noticed the error as soon as it was made and quickly corrected it. The entire correction process took half a minute before it reflected on air.
Dr. Prannoy Roy, who hosted the election special broadcast along with the late Vinod Dua, noticed it before the correction and brought the attention of his panel and the entire nation to it.
This was BREAKING NEWS of the highest order. He announced it on air, and India heard. Moments later, he spotted the correction and told the viewers that there had been a mistake. He said the Prime Minister is leading, not trailing, as pointed out a few seconds ago.
When the mistake was rectified in a jiffy, it was clear that someone had erred in the Data Centre. Candidates don’t trail and then lead in less than a minute.
The lady boss of the Result Centre rushed into the data entry room, demanding to know who was responsible for it. Just as I was about to raise my hand, my young partner held my arm and gestured not to mention his name. It was an honest error. He was visibly shaken. I had a second or two to decide. I kept quiet.
My partner made no error before or after this incident. It was this solitary but significant one that spooked him out. Looking at the glass half full, it could have been worse had the error reflected the PM had lost the election. Comparatively, it was a lesser error. 🙂
A Movie-Like Moment
Being a movie buff, this incident takes me back to a scene in the 1982 Hindi film Shakti, the only one featuring two of India’s biggest superstars – the late Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan – together. In the movie, Kulbhushan Kharbhanda (KK), an aide of the villain, bails out Amitabh Junior when his fellow goons are out to nab the young lad. The innocence and fear in the child’s face touches KK’s heart, and he lets him go. I spotted the same facial expression on the intern, and my heart melted.
When we wound up that night, I took him aside near the car parking area, put my arm around his shoulder, and joked:
‘You now have a story to tell your parents and years later to your children and grandchildren – how you startled an entire nation at the press of a button.’
That remark got him to smile for the first time that day after the error.
About Me
An international award-winning producer, I have steered over two dozen TV channel launches, rebranding, and refresh projects and produced thousands of hours of content for news and current affairs.