Elderly couple, family of celebrated painter Nandalal Bose's grandson, vote after bureaucratic hurdles in Santiniketan

The family of celebrated painter Nandalal Bose's grandson voted Thursday in Santiniketan, but only after two to three attempts despite a tribunal clearing their names following SC intervention, exemplifying the hurdles that citizens had to cross to exercise their rights. Suprabuddha Sen (88) and his wife Deepa Sen (82) were initially made to leave the booth with officials decreeing they needed a written order from the Birbhum district magistrate to vote. Eventually, however, the elderly couple were given VIP treatment and escorted to the booth around 4pm to vote after the matter was escalated to the DM. The travails began early in the day when Deepa went to the booth at Visva Bharati Staff Club. "I told the BLO that our names appeared on supplementary list published Wednesday, but was told that only those names there on their list can vote." Around 10.20am, Suprabuddha and Deepa went to the booth with all documents. "A high-ranking cop said we needed to get it in writing from the DM, and only then could we vote," said Suprabuddha. Their daughter Esha Dutta escalated the matter to the DM's office through an acquaintance. The effort paid off. By late afternoon, a convoy arrived at their home. "We finally managed to cast our votes at 4pm," Suprabuddha added.