Kamal Ghorui
KOLKATA: With last-minute relief following the publication of the appellate tribunal’s supplementary list on Wednesday, a few of the 139 lucky voters, who had lost hope, finally got their index fingers inked.Ainul Miah (30) from Cooch Behar was able to cast his vote at a booth under the Sitalkuchi assembly constituency. “My sister and I had both submitted all our documents, including our house deed, but our names were struck off. I am happy that I could finally vote,” he said.But the relatives of many of the lucky ones did not get to exercise their franchise. Ainul’s sister’s case is yet to be resolved. “My other siblings and my father voted as their names are in the final roll, but I am still concerned for my sister,” he said. Ainul added, “This is my fundamental right, which I lost under the category of logical discrepancy, where I had no role.Twin brothers Sk Kismat and Sk Kurban also got their names on the rolls after the appellate tribunal’s supplementary list was published.In their family of seven, the names of all five brothers had been deleted. Three were later restored on the rolls. Relief for Kismat and Kurban came 24 hours before the first phase of polling.Kismat said, “We went together to celebrate this hard-earned victory. We had submitted valid proof at the time of the hearing, but all our names were deleted. We did not think we would be able to vote this time. We are very relieved that we could participate in the polling process.”Dhananjay Sardar (30), who lives in a small village in Murshidabad, had his name included on the electoral rolls on Wednesday. Expressing relief after casting his vote, he said, “I was worried even after my name appeared, but everything went smoothly.”Biplab Majumder, a teacher from Malda, was not as lucky. Even after his name appeared on the list, he could not cast his vote as he was assigned poll duty at Karandighi in Uttar Dinajpur.Majumder also missed the postal ballot voting on April 14, as his voting right was still in question at the time.
