KOLKATA: The family of famous painter Nandalal Bose’s grandson cast their votes in Santiniketan on Thursday and even though a court cleared them after SC intervention, the vote took place after two to three attempts, illustrating the hurdles that citizens have to jump to exercise their rights.Suprabuddha Sen (88) and his wife Deepa Sen (82) were initially asked to leave the polling station and officials ordered that they needed a written order from the Birbhum district magistrate to vote. However, eventually, after the matter was escalated to DM, the elderly couple were given VIP treatment and escorted to the polling station to cast their votes at around 4pm.
The agony started when Deepa came to the booth of the Visva Bharati Employees Club earlier in the day. “I informed BLO that our names were on the supplementary list released on Wednesday but were told that only names on the list could vote.”Around 10.20 am, Suprabuddha and Deepa came to the stall with all the documents. “A senior police officer said we need to get it in writing from the DM before we can vote,” Suprabuddha said.Their daughter Esha Dutta reported the matter to the DM office through an acquaintance. The hard work paid off. In the evening, the motorcade arrived at their home. “We finally completed the voting at 4 pm,” Suprabuddha added.
