An old man, walking with a stick, came out of a booth on Ramesh Mitra Road in Bhowanipore around 11am.
The April sun was scorching and the man paused to rest for a few seconds after every few steps. On seeing a couple of TV cameras, he flashed his left index finger marked with the poll ink.
“Some of my family members and neighbours were sceptical about me stepping out to vote. But I was bent on voting. Voting gives me a reassurance that I am still not invalid,” said Sambhu Nath Dutta, 86, a resident of Puddapukur in Bhowanipore.
Asked what the main issue that influenced his voting was, Dutta replied: “I voted for a Bengal where everyone can live together peacefully, a Bengal without violence.”