With polling for Phase 2 of the West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 commencing on Wednesday morning, queues formed outside booths across constituencies, with early voters setting the tone for the day.
From first-time voters to elderly citizens, many stepped out early in the morning, keen to cast their votes. My Kolkata caught up with some of these early-bird voters.
Arghajit Dey, among the first voters at booth 150 of Talpukur G.S.F.P School in Jadavpur, cast his vote at 7.20am — just 20 minutes after polling began — choosing to arrive early to beat the heat. He expressed satisfaction with the arrangements and said CRPF personnel were helpful.
Sampa Chowdhury, 51, of Shibpur constituency, cast her vote at booth 72 of Chandi Vidyapith Primary School at 7.30am on Wednesday. The first voter at her booth, Chowdhury, had to wait for nearly 30 minutes as polling was delayed due to repeated EVM malfunctions.
Pinku Sardar, the first voter at booth 180 in Tollygunge Assembly constituency, arrived early to cast his vote as he had to leave for work.
Sukhoranjan Raychowdhury, a 71-year-old resident of Kalyani, queued up from 4am to be the first voter at his booth, a ritual he follows every election. Satisfied with the arrangements at his designated booth, he urged young voters to be more active.
Rimi Banerjee, a trans resident of Shyampur, cast her vote at 7.15am, emerging as one of the first voters at her booth. She flagged conveyance issues as a problem in the area, noting that smoother polling could have been ensured if the administration had allowed regular movement of autos.
Debraj Chatterjee, an early voter from the Baranagar constituency, booth number 113, said, "Anticipating the heat, I came early. I do not vote this early, generally. The system inside the polling booth was excellent this time. It took me around 15 minutes to complete the whole process"
Sraboni Sengupta, 71, a voter of Netaji Nagar who participates in every election, arrived at her polling booth in a wheelchair this year due to difficulty walking.
Sanjoy Chatterjee, 63, of Behala West, who was one of the early voters at booth 161, said, “I always vote early in the morning to avoid the rush. Today, I arrived at 6.50am and cast my vote at 7am. I live nearby, so I usually come within the first hour.”
