Braving rains, voters wade through waterlogged areas to cast their ballots

Kolkata: People from Buniadpur in South Dinajpur braved torrential rain and waded through accumulated waters in several parts to come out and cast their votes in the municipal elections on Sunday.

Despite heavy rainfall and flood-like situation in some parts of the district, hundreds of enthusiasts came out to exercise their franchise since morning in the first-ever municipal elections in the area.

In some places, the polling booths were heavily inundated but it failed to dampen the spirits of the voters. People residing in Ward number 7 under the newly formed Buniadpur Municipality had to cast their votes at polling booth number 11 at Joydevpur SSK School. But they found that the booth had submerged. But the vote process could not be postponed due to rain and hence the district administration arranged boats to ferry the voters to the polling booth.

The prolonged rain in North Bengal in the past few days had led to a flood-like situation in various parts. People were seen standing in queues at various polling stations from 7 am. Many of them were drenched in rain despite having an umbrella with them. One of the reasons behind the voters being so enthusiastic was the fact that they were casting their votes for the first time after the newly formed Buniadpur municipality came into existence. Apprehending the situation, local administrative officials made all the necessary arrangements so that people do not face problems while coming to the polling booths due to the inundation of roads. Senior administrative officials were on the streets from morning to supervise the situation. The boats were sent to those affected areas to bring the voters to the booths. As a result people did not face any major problems. An elderly person who came to cast his vote at booth number 11 despite the incessant rain said the people in the area have been benefitted through the various development projects initiated by the state government. The vote process passed off peacefully in all the polling booths under this municipality area amidst adequate security arrangements.

Incidentally, it may be mentioned that there are 14 Wards under Buniadpur municipality that had gone to polls on Sunday. There are around 23,588 voters in this municipal area among which around 12,241 are male and around 11,347 female. Voting had taken place in a total of 23 booths.