Poll veteran rickshaw-puller pulls out

His friend Dilu Mondol had promised to pay for his security deposit but backed out the last minute. “I went to file my nomination at the office but Dilu never turned up,” Bhushan says.

After failing to secure the nomination,the Mondol family is disappointed. His son Sudipto (25) says: “I am feeling so bad that baba could not contest. The cost of the form was so high. I am aiming for a scholarship and if I get one,I will make sure he contests the next Assembly polls,” he says.

Sudipto graduated in first class from the Government College of Engineering and Ceramic Technology and has just cleared the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE). He is applying to various colleges for MTech.

“My friends told me to contest from the Sonarpur Assemply seat in 1987. Then onwards I contested every election —- not to win but to make people aware that more and more people should enter politics as Independents and try to change the system. This party system will not lead us anywhere because parties are only busy fighting each other,” he says.

From Sandeshkhali to Chowringhee to Sonarpur. From tube well to saw and book —- Bhushan has contested 10 Assembly elections and two LS elections on a variety of symbols.

Mondol also pens down verses that help him in his campaign. “Deshe aache joto party,sob sorbonasher ghati,” he writes.

He has always lost his security deposit. Last time he was against Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee and Rabin Deb of the CPM. “In the last Assembly elections,2650 people voted for me from Sonarpur. Imagine so many people want a rickshaw-puller to represent them,” he says proudly.