Ignored border booth votes briskly

A week before the bypolls, workers of various parties came to put up flags and a few hoardings before they made a door-to-door visit asking residents to vote for their candidates.

“I have not seen any prominent leader come to ask for votes here. Perhaps this place is too remote and since none of the political parties were ever interested in listening to our problems, they are hesitant to ask for votes,” said Asit Biswas, a 50-plus resident here.

“But we cannot help but exercise our right to franchise despite negligence from all camps,” he added.

Another voter, Gopal Mondal, said they had seen these political leaders only in posters and on TV. “But we still go to cast our votes because we almost celebrate this day,” he said.

In the vicinity, children were seen playing in the paddy fields, half of which was part of Bangladesh.

Interestingly, none of the party cadres have ever told these voters about the None Of The Above (NOTA) button on the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM).

“We would have definitely thought of the NOTA option had we known about it. At the moment we only have an option to vote for the best among the worst candidates, who never ever cared to provide us even basic civic amenities,” said a 30-plus housewife of the area.

Presiding officer Bhattacharya said he, along with his officers, had a difficult time in reaching the polling booth in the absence of infrastructure. “This is the worst place I have ever been on election duty. There is no electricity or even a tea stall. We have spent the night here amid mosquitoes. There is no electricity, so no fan or light was functioning through the day. The videographer had to depend on batteries to record the proceedings,” Bhattacharya said.

Central forces said they did not face any problem here. “People here voted peacefully. Neither did the party cadres intervene in the poll process,” said a jawan posted here.