The road in Saidpur village. Picture by Mithun Roy.

Balurghat, July 25: No road, no vote, the villagers of Saidpur had made it clear in the 2009 Lok Sabha and 2011 Assembly elections.

But today, they voted, walking down the village path that is now a pucca road.

The Left-run zilla parishad did not pave the path, villagers said, despite several requests. But things changed after Trinamul came to power in the state.

Saidpur is 25km from Balurghat town.

With pressure from Trinamul, work started on laying a 3.5km road from from Seoi to Saidpur in February this year.

The road now connects the village to the Balurghat-Hili state highway via Patiram.

Locals said they had voted in the last panchayat election in 2008. A candidate from the BJP had won then.

But no road was made to connect the village to the state highway. In the monsoon, the village would be flooded. Patients wanting to go to Balurghat would have a tough time also.

“The situation remained the same. We held a meeting and decided to boycott all the subsequent elections after 2008. We organised a Sarbadalio Boycott Committee (all-party boycott committee) to boycott the polls. Not a single vote was cast here,” said Nripen Barman, a resident.

There are 1,450 voters in the two booths of Saidpur. The villagers stood in long queues today to vote after almost four years.

“The road is of huge importance for villages of Vakla, Purba Saidpur, Saidpur, Indra and other villages. It is the main road by which we can go to Balurghat and other places. We have come to cast our votes after the road was built,” said Mridula Pal, local resident.