Jorpatki had been a joyous place in the morning, its families eager to vote and happy to see their outstation breadwinners back to cast their ballot, when the sound of firing shattered the peace.

By afternoon, stunned neighbours had joined bereaved families in mourning the death of four of the village’s sons, felled by CISF firing at Booth 5/126 at the Amtali Madhyamik Siksha Kendra.

Most of the dead — two migrant workers, a first-time voter and a mason — were their families’ main breadwinners.

Nur Alam Mian, 20, one of the victims, had returned from Bihar with his parents only a couple of days ago to vote.

“All three worked in a brick kiln in Bihar. Nur has a sister who lives in the village with her uncle. Everything was fine till a little after 10am, when we suddenly heard gunshots,” said Safiuddin Mian, Jorpatki resident and a voter registered with Booth 5/126.

“We found that four youths from our village were dead. We had never imagined such an election.”

Laila Biwi, wife of Maniruzzaman Mian, 28, kept fainting off and on after travelling 15km to the sub-divisional hospital in Mathabhanga where the bodies had been brought.

Whenever she regained consciousness, the mother of a one-and-a-half-month-old daughter wept bitterly.

“They had got married a year and a half ago. Maniruzzaman works in Sikkim under a labour contractor and had come home to vote,” said Majibul Haque, an uncle of the victim.

“We have no idea how it happened. He has elderly parents at home and was his family’s principal earner.”

Absar Ali, a man in his late 50s, gave a blank stare on being asked about his 21-year-old son Samiul Haque, who had died of his bullet wounds.

Samiul, whom villagers described as a friendly young man and first-time voter, had recently opened an Internet café at Jorpatki.

“He would help the villagers get their documents corrected and draft applications for them. He was always ready to help anyone. I don’t know what to do,” Ali said.

The firing also killed Hamidul Mian, a 31-year-old mason and father of a three-year-old daughter.

“We don’t know how to tell his wife and daughter,” said Mofia Bibi, Hamidul’s mother-in-law.

Residents said around 950 voters were enrolled with Booth 5/126, of whom about 750 were from the minority community.

“We had never thought our youths would lose their lives on polling day,” said Ershad Hossain, a resident of the Kazir More area in Jorpatki.

“Even in the morning there was a festive mood here. But by afternoon, a pall had descended.”