Homemakers Indira Trivedi (left) and Sandhya Pal sat chatting outside Calcutta Girls’ School after casting their votes. Trivedi said that if the BJP comes to power, cooking gas cylinder prices were sure to skyrocket. “The exponential price increase is already making it a struggle to keep our kitchens running. I voted keeping in mind that if the BJP comes to power then we will have a harrowing time with the finances,” she said. Ghosh pointed out that the Centre’s policies were a double-edged sword aimed at crippling middle class’s finances. “On one hand there is price rise while on the other, they’ve been reducing interest rates on small savings schemes. We have had enough of this acche din, we want the burey din back,”she said.

Sweta Sinha, 57, and her daughter Sreshtha, a student, had come to a polling booth in Tallah Park. Sweta, a homemaker, said the election schedule should have been shortened because of the surge in Covid cases. “Most certainly, yes. The huge rallies and meetings should have been avoided,” she said. Sreshtha, pursuing a master’s in sociology from Banaras Hindu University, had come home last year during the Covid-19 crisis and has not gone back since. “People, especially the young, should not cast their votes on the basis of religion,” she said.

Swagata Chatterjee, who has completed her MSc in zoology from Calcutta University and is gearing up for government job exams, had come to a booth on Manmatha Dutta Road in Paikpara with her parents. “Women’s safety is one of the most important issues for me. I don’t feel unsafe while returning home late now. I don’t want that to change,” she said. Her father Rajan, a businessman, said his neighbourhood had witnessed “a lot of development”. His wife Mousumi, a government employee, said she voted for “peace and harmony”

Raju Turi, who works for a private company, had come to a booth off Beleghata Main Road to cast his vote. Turi had come alone because most of his family members, including his wife, had decided not to vote out of fear that they would contract Covid. “I came despite my wife asking me not to as I feel that I need to exercise the only power I have as a citizen to oppose the two shoddily handled issues in our country — demonetisation and the handling of the current Covid-19 scenario,” he said.

A Class XII student of Gyan Bharati Vidyapeeth, Rajnish Bhagat, had come to a polling station in Kankurgachhi to cast his vote. A first-time voter, Bhagat said that he believed votes should not be divided on religion and instead the government should focus on creating more jobs and livelihood opportunities for youngsters. “Most of my seniors in our neighbourhood have moved out of the state for jobs. I think that instead of crying themselves hoarse over religion, the government must try to create better job opportunities for us,” he said.

Pictures by Bishwarup Dutta, Sanat Kr Sinha and Pradip Sanyal