TMC cadres knock every door,Kamduni turns out reluctantly

“Out of the total 952 voters (at Kamduni),265 turned up. Of them,151 were men and 114 women voters,” said polling officer Gaur Mohan Banerjee.

The impact of the poll boycott call was,however,negligible in the neighbouring two villages,where the turnout was 62.58 and 57.8 per cent.

“I heard about people protesting the rape and staying away from voting. I am also affected by the incident,but I think we should exercise our democratic rights,” said Chandradhar Mondal who was at a polling booth,located nearly a kilometre away from the victim’s house,at 7.20 am.

At the booth,there was no presence of any CPM or Congress polling agent.

Basubi Naskar,62,who also cast his vote,said the villagers had earlier decided not to vote,but after the last night’s visit by the Trinamool cadres,they had a second thought about it.

“There were about a dozen of Trinamool cadres who came to our house in the night,handed over the voters’ slips,and asked us to vote. I thought something bad could happen to me if I didn’t vote. So I have come to vote,” she said.

Among those who voted was Mausumi Naskar. She had taken part in the anti-rape protest,but came out to vote. “Trinamool youths came to our place last night and told us to vote,” she said.

The Trinamool cadres had also visited the family of the rape victim. “They told us let bygones be bygones and asked me to cast my vote. I didn’t reply,but have decided not to vote. We have not dissuaded anyone from voting and neither do I think I should cast my vote for some other party. We are not voting because we are sad for our daughter who had been raped and killed,” said the victim’s mother.

The father of the victim said delayed justice would even be worse. “If the rapists can’t be hanged,then please hang all the four of us so that we die and meet my daughter whom we could not give justice,” he said.

Two women,who have been on the forefront of the protest — Tumpa Kayal and Mausumi Kayal — also did not vote. While Tumpa was at her in-laws,Mausumi said,“We had decided not to vote as a mark of protest. The Trinamool men had come to our place last night but none of the seven members of my family would vote today,” she said.