Padma Roy, 84, was a polling agent till 20 years ago. “In my 26 years in Salt Lake, I have never seen so few voters at 9am,” she said in AE Block.

B.R. Das, 92, Barun Dutta, 84, and Asit Maitra, 92, after voting at St. Francis Xavier School in Purbachal. Das and Dutta had come on their own while Maitra, who had a pacemaker installed a while back, was accompanied by a domestic help. “If people are unhappy with the way things are run, today is the day to act,” said Maitra.

“We’re very excited about voting. We turned 18 last year but it’s only now that we’re feeling like adults,” said Suvojit Banerjee and Souvik Maiti in the queue outside EE community hall. 

“I came from Durgapur to vote. After all, this is my first time,” said Bapan Samanta, 22, of AL Block, outside the CK-CL community hall.

Film editor Arghyakamal Mitra voted at Bhagabati Debi Balika Bidyalay in AE Block at 8.20am. “This is the second time I am voting since I am hardly ever here on poll day,” he said.

Actor-director Manoj Mitra, who can see his polling booth Bishwakabi Bidyayatan from his AG Block home, voted at 9am. “I will use the rest of the morning to finish an article,” he said.

Painter Ganesh Haloi walked to Bhagabati Debi Balika Bidyalay with his wife at 9.10am. “I am surprised how thin the crowd is,” he said.

Brothers Partha and Pinaki Sikdar of AE Block came to vote a week after having lost their father. “He would not have wanted us to skip voting,” they said.

When voting started at 7am at CK-CL community hall there were already 30 people in the men’s queue and 20 in the women’s queue outside. “I’ve been voting in Salt Lake since 1992 and have a record of sorts for being the first person to vote every time,” smiled D.K. Samanta of AL Block, who had come at 6.15am and was again 
first in line. First in the ladies’ queue was AL Block’s Putul Ghosh, who skipped her morning walk and landed up at 6am. “My domestic helps have refused to come today so I wanted to vote early and return home to finish the chores,” she said, sitting on a chair the guards had arranged. (Below) The ladies’ queue outside EE community hall at 8.15am.

Brinda Sarkar and Sudeshna Banerjee