Scenes of RAF personnel in India casting their votes in the British General Election of July 1945.

Establishing shot showing a large thatched building with a queue of men, an improvised voting booth, and a similarly improvised ballot box. Two large flags (a Union Flag and an RAF Ensign) are on display and a sign reads 'Vote Here'. The airman in the booth gets up to post his ballot paper into the box. Closer shot of the booth. Close-up of airmen queuing; an officer wearing an armband invigilates. An airman seals an envelope before posting it into the ballot box which is perched on top of a couple of metal bins. A supervising Squadron Leader sits by the box, which is marked 'Ballot Papers Here' and in the background a finger board points to the base post office. Close-up of six men posting their ballots. Close-up of 'Vote Here' sign; a warrant officer, wearing his insignia on a leather wristband, passes camera. At a different, and evidently more permanent location, men queue along a covered verandah and men leaving a small room set aside for voting. The ballot box is on a table on the verandah and two airmen sit behind it. Camera move; the camera tracks back along the queue of airmen to show individuals entering and leaving the voting room before pushing in again to focus on the two men administering the vote. A doorway with sign reading 'Polling Booth'. Back at the previous location a sign reads 'Your Vote Is Your Heritage Use It'. A man leafs through a sheaf of election material; one sheet bears a photograph of a woman under the title 'Your Candidate' while another, marked 'Harrow West Parliamentary Division' declares 'Vote for Bower' next to a photograph of Norman Bower MP ('Official Conservative Candidate'). High shot looking down on a man sealing his envelope and posting it into the ballot box. Close-ups of three men sitting down, taking their ballot paper from its envelope, marking it and sealing it again; the angle of the shot chosen so as not to violate the secrecy of the men's vote. Amusing close-up of the man at the front of the queue; he pats down his pockets but cannot find his ballot paper before remembering that he's been keeping it safely under his bush hat. Interior shot at base post office; a copy of the SEAC (South East Asia Command) newspaper lies by an open window. An airman approaches and speaks to the mail clerk who flicks through a number of envelopes before handing one to the airman. Reverse angle from outside. High shot looking down on queue, booth and ballot box.

Notes

An interesting and useful record of democratic participation in a distant theatre.

Dopesheet gives the locations as an RAF bomber station, presumably in the vicinity of Calcutta, ('where arrangements are provisional and the best possible') and an RAF facility in the neighbouring town.

Tory MP Norman Bower won his seat with almost 50% of the vote, markedly against the national trend which saw a shock Conservative defeat by Labour, with 393 seats to the Tories' 197. A so-called 'Khaki Election', the votes of servicemen such as those seen in this film are widely considered to have been particularly important in ousting Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the Conservatives.

Dopesheet gives interesting details of the logistical organisation behind this election.

Dopesheet dated 16/7/1945. Polling day, however, was 5/7/1945, and as there is no reason to suspect this footage is staged the latter date seems more likely to be correct.

This election also covered by RAF still photographers. See related items.

The RAF's 'The Gen' newsreel No. 14 (dated 4/1945) also emphasises the importance of democratic participation. See related items.