Homeless voters of Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar districts who are spending nights in makeshift tents under tarpaulins since the March 31 mini-tornado, walked up to their booths on Friday and exercised their franchise.
While some of these voters were appreciative of the assistance extended by the state administration to them, others questioned the prolonged silence of the BJP whom many of them had voted in the 2019 general election and the 2021 Assembly elections.
Bishru Roy (right, in green T-shirt) and Hemanta Roy, both storm victims, at the queue in a booth in Barnish, Jalpaiguri's Mainaguri, on Friday.
“For the first time, I voted using a unique identity proof, that is, the receipt copy of the missing diary which I had lodged with the police after I lost my identity cards and whatever little valuables I had in the storm. Most of us were apprehensive as to whether we would finally be able to vote, but finally we could,” said Bikash Chandra Roy, a resident of Barnish Kalibari in Mainaguri block in Jalpaiguri, which was badly hit by the storm.
In Barnish, around 700 houses were completely flattened by the mini-tornado. An equal number of houses got partially damaged.
Bishu Roy, who was spotted in a booth at Barnish, said he received Rs 60,000 from the state administration.
“After the disaster, the chief minister had reached our area on the same night but because of the elections (the model code of conduct had kicked in), we were uncertain as to whether we will get any assistance. It is good that the state stood in our support and we will start rebuilding our houses soon. Or else, we would have to spend nights in tents till June, that is, till the elections are over,” said Bishu.
As the March 31 storm affected hundreds of families, political leaders were skeptical as to how many could finally walk up to the booth to cast their votes.
“They are busy rebuilding and repairing homes and cleaning farms. Still, most of them turned up to vote,” said a senior Trinamul functionary in Mainaguri.
A similar trend was seen in Alipurduar where villagers in Dakshin Khamsing, Sixth Mile, Uttar Khamsing and Tapshikhata under Alipurduar-I block cast their votes in their booths. Trinamool workers had arranged lunch for them.
“The chief minister visited our village. But we didn’t find a single BJP leader around. The Prime Minister came twice in the region but barely spent a minute to speak about us. This is disappointing as since 2019 we have been voting for the BJP,” said Makhan Das, a resident of Dakshin Khamsing village.
Many BJP leaders anonymously admitted that they lagged behind Trinamool in reaching out to the storm-hit people. However, on Friday, party leaders sounded confident of the outcome on June 4 counting day.
“We will retain Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar seats. Trinamul tried to disrupt polling in 50-odd booths in the three districts where polls were held today (Friday). Still, the BJP will win,” said Deepak Barman, the BJP in-charge in north Bengal.