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Octogenarian Maya Rani Vishwas cast her vote for the West Bengal assembly elections on Wednesday at Nadia's Karimpur polling booth, expressing happiness over the assistance provided by security personnel at the polling booth in Karimpur (Karimpur Girls high school).
She said the security staff helped elderly voters warmly and treated them "like sons." Visuals from the booth showed security personnel helping senior citizens reach the polling booth personally, while Totos (rickshaws) were arranged to carry them back and forth from their residence to the polling booth. Maya Rani shared that a boy inside offered to cast her vote on her behalf, but she firmly refused and insisted on voting herself. She said that despite her age, she wanted to exercise her democratic right personally. She also raised a key local demand, saying she hopes a railway line will be built in Karimpur so that people in the area can benefit from rail connectivity. Her daughter Santana Vishwas added that her mother had been ready to vote since morning and thanked the security personnel for their support and assistance at the polling station. Meanwhile, before voting commenced in West Bengal, mock polls were held across various polling stations in the state. The second and final phase of the West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 has officially commenced, preceded by rigorous mock polls across the state's high-stakes corridors. Early morning visuals captured a state in "mission mode." Election officials and polling agents gathered at dawn to conduct mock polls, a mandatory procedure to ensure the integrity of EVMs and VVPAT machines. By 6:30 AM, long queues had already snaked around polling stations in South 24 Parganas. Despite the intense heat predicted for later in the day, voters, many of them women and first-timers, arrived early to exercise their franchise in what is being described as one of the most polarised and significant elections in Bengal's history. The first phase of elections on April 23 had seen a record 91.78 per cent polling. The voting on Wednesday will decide the electoral fate of 1,448 candidates, which includes 1,228 men and 220 women. The Election Commission has made all arrangements for the smooth conduct of the polling process. Of over 3.22 crore total voters, 3.21 crore are general electors and nearly 40,000 are service voters. There are 1.64 crore male electors and 1.57 crore female electors, and 792 have been identified as the third gender. (ANI)
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