Rashida Khatun, a middle-aged homemaker of Chit Sakati, a village in Jalpaiguri Sadar block located beyond the barbed-wire fences at the India-Bangladesh border, was surprised on Friday when the BSF personnel at the entry gates asked her to take her voter ID card to the mainland.

“Usually, we have to submit our voter ID cards after crossing the fence through the gate. While returning, they hand it over to us. But today (Friday), as we went to vote, they simply jotted down the serial number of the card and returned it to me. I could vote without any inconvenience,” said Rashida.

On March 31 this year, The Telegraph reported that residents of the village had complained to Tomojeet Chakraborty, the SDO of Jalpaiguri, that they were skeptical as to whether they would at all be able to vote as the BSF kept their voter cards at the gates.

Chakraborty intervened and asked the BSF personnel to see to it that these people could exercise their franchise.

On Friday, when India started its seven-phase general election, unlike on other days when the BSF opens the entry gates at stipulated times, the gates were open from 7am.

Around 150 people reside in Chit Sakati, between the fences and the zero line. Among them, 95 residents are voters.

Tahirul Sarkar, another villager, said the BSF cooperated with them on voting day. “They didn’t ask for any document and calmly allowed us to walk up to the booth and return to our village through the gates,” he said.

Shama Parveen, the district magistrate of Jalpaiguri, said they had sent teams to the bordering villages to instill confidence among the villagers so that they cast their votes. “On Friday, these people voted in their respective booths. The police, the administration and the BSF worked in coordination for the ease of the voters,” she said.

Senior BSF officers, the central security force that guards the border, said that they also helped senior citizens and physically challenged voters from the bordering villages to reach their booths and cast their franchise.

“Our personnel went beyond their call of duty by assisting the elderly and specially abled voters. The seamless coordination between the BSF and local authorities, coupled with focus on peace and order, helped in peaceful polls,” said a BSF officer.