For nearly a decade, fear lurked across a culvert that divided Ujjwalpalli village from the polling booth in Bhagwanpur, in Nadia's Joyghata under the Krishnaganj Assembly seat.

On Wednesday, around 500 voters crossed the culvert, an invisible barrier that kept many of them from voting for years, and reached the designated booth — the Bhagwanpur ICDS — in the second and final phase of the 2026 Bengal Assembly polls.

The largely impoverished, Scheduled Caste refugee community of Ujjwalpalli, with roots in Bangladesh, said they voted freely for the first time since 2018.

Residents alleged that since the 2018 panchayat polls, when most of them began showing a marked tilt towards the BJP, they started facing a cycle of exclusion.

“In the 2018 rural polls, before I could stand in the queue outside the polling station, influential persons from the ruling party identified me and many others and dragged us away. We were literally kicked out. Women were abused and told to leave immediately,” said Madan Das, a 67-year-old farmer.

The pattern, villagers said, continued through successive elections. In the 2021 Assembly polls, only a handful managed to vote by reaching booths early, before the alleged fear tactics by "Bengal's ruling party workers" began. During the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, too, a few voted, but many chose to stay indoors, fearing reprisals. Their absence, they alleged, was never reflected in official turnout figures, with Trinamool workers manipulating polling at the Bhagwanpur ICDS centre.

The 2023 gram panchayat elections, residents claimed, saw one of the most violent episodes. Nearly 400 voters were allegedly prevented from voting. “My neighbours and family members were beaten up in front of me and the police. But no one dared to stop them,” said Rumpa Das, a homemaker who contested as a BJP nominee, blaming "Trinamool goons".

A woman, Basanti Das, echoed Rumpa: “Our situation was not conducive to voting. Our men were beaten up, and we were abused and forced to leave. They targeted us for our social status and for supporting the BJP. Fearing a similar situation, many of us did not dare to cross the culvert in 2024. For us, fear always lay on the other side.”

Villagers trace their continued disenfranchisement to a combination of political rivalry and their marginalised identity.

“We were not allowed to vote, possibly due to our downtrodden status and political differences (with the ruling party). Muscle power was used to deny us our rights,” said Kanai Das, 64.

“But, this time we are thankful to the Election Commission for ensuring fair polling with central forces,” Das told The Telegraph.

With central forces deployed and security tightened, residents walked together to the Bhagwanpur ICDS centre polling station on Wednesday, many voting after years.

Across Bengal, the BJP repeatedly accused the ruling Trinamool of suppressing dissenting voters. Trinamool has denied the allegations.

BJP leader Biswajit Roy said: “Ujjwalpalli reflects the plight of lakhs across Bengal who were denied voting rights under the Trinamool regime, not just for political reasons but also due to social and economic backwardness. This time, confidence returned due to the Election Commission’s security measures and our strong organisational support base.”

Echoing the sentiment, BJP’s Nadia South organising committee vice-president Sukanta Mondal claimed that Trinamool Congress "goons" were "afraid this time, seeing people’s determination and the Election Commission’s resolve to conduct violence-free polls".

Trinamool Congress candidate Samir Poddar distanced himself from the allegations. “If such incidents really happened, it was not good. I am happy that all people have cast their votes without any problem,” he said.