Ismail Ali, who is in his late twenties, has made a floating plank by cutting down banana plant stems and tying them together.

The resident of Anantapur in Gouripur gram panchayat was joined by two of his friends.

The trio had to use the catamaran to reach a booth to cast their votes in the Raiganj Assembly bypoll on Wednesday. Their families and friends were ferried to the booth by the bhela.

As it rained heavily since Tuesday night and till Wednesday morning in North Dinajpur district, two booths (numbers 37 and 38) at Anantapur Primary School were completely marooned as water accumulated in the surroundings of the institution. Besides, the Nagar river which flows nearby swelled and spilled over its banks, flooding agricultural fields and adjoining areas.

“When we got ready to visit the booth and cast our votes, we learnt that there is water around the school building. That is why we decided to make a bhela to reach the booth, instead of trudging through the water. We had no idea how deep the water was,” said Ismail.

Gouripur is around 10km from here.

Altogether, the two booths have around 1,500 voters. When polling personnel reached the booths on Tuesday night, there was not much water around.

“However, it rained incessantly last night and the booths were isolated as the rainwater accumulated around the booths. Also, the river flooded the fields, leaving no space for us to walk. The administration had made a makeshift bamboo footbridge to walk up to the booths but it didn’t help much,” said Mohammad Shahjahan, who, along with some others, hired a country boat to reach the booth and exercise his franchise.

Despite such an odd situation, there was a considerable presence of voters throughout the day, said sources.

Unlike other locations where supporters of different parties maintain distance from each other, the residents of Anantapur kept aside their political differences on Wednesday.

“I am a TMC supporter. But today, I helped many others who support other parties to reach the booth by the boat which I have hired,” said Sheikh Hasiruddin, a resident of Anantapur.

Mohammad Siddique, a local panchayat member, said the block administration had been asked to build a proper road in the area and carry out protection works on the river bank to prevent waterlogging during monsoons.

“Nothing, however, has happened so far. In fact, if the water doesn’t recede, the polling teams will have to use country boats or the bhela to cross the water and head for the district headquarters,” he said.

Raiganj subdivisional officer Kingshuk Maiti said efforts were being taken to ensure that people could vote without any problem.

“So far as these two booths are concerned, we need to check out with the block administration,” said the SDO.