In neighbours’ company, CM Mamata Banerjee flashes victory sign

KOLKATA: Clad in her signature blue-bordered white cotton saree, CM Mamata Banerjee walked to the Mitra Institution polling booth on Harish Mukherjee Road at 4.35pm amid loud cheers from local residents, who had gathered at the booth where she has always voted.
The three-term legislator from Bhowanipore had got off the car 200 metres away from the poll booth.She stopped to interact with party workers at a roadside camp before she began walking towards the booth, where again local residents, party workers and fans crowded around her and requested for “one selfie” with Kolkata South constituency’s voter number 1.
She happily posed for a few selfies before cops escorted her towards the booth. She had local councillor and sister-in-law Kajari Banerjee for company, to whom she handed over her cellphones before walking into the booth. Kajari waited outside.
As cops had already ensured there was none else in the queue, Banerjee cast her vote and came out within three minutes. She greeted a young woman and a six-year-old girl accompanying her at the school lobby, who were waiting to get inside the booth.
She patted the child’s head before walking towards the exit. On the way she met an elderly man, whom she greeted with folded hands and a wide smile.
Banerjee didn’t speak to journalists waiting at the exit but paused twice — once before entering the booth and again while coming out of it — to pose for photos.
The CM flashed the victory sign upon leaving the premises.
This time, veteran Congress-turned-Trinamool leader Mala Roy, who is also the outgoing MP, is contesting from the Kolkata South seat where Banerjee had won six times between 1991 and 2009 including during the party’s worst performance in 2004 when Trinamool had won only one seat.
“We waited outside the booth for almost an hour and she made our day as she got off the car early and walked past us and even stopped for a photograph with us,” said Suchitra Das, a resident of Kalighat Road.
Equally excited was 35-year-old Bittu Saha, a young party worker who was part of the circle with whom the CM had discussed the day’s hourly voter turnout and overall polling percentage before she headed to the booth. “She is my idol. We don’t often get a chance to interact with her but today was special,” said Saha.