Kolkata: The family of the grandson of renowned painter Nandlal Bose voted in Santiniketan on Thursday, but only after two to three attempts, a tribunal cleared their names following the intervention of the Supreme Court, exemplifying the hurdles citizens have to overcome to exercise their rights.Suprabuddha Sen (88) and his wife Deepa Sen (82) were initially turned away from the booth by officials saying they needed a written order from the Birbhum district magistrate to vote. However, after the matter reached the DM, the elderly couple was finally given VIP treatment and taken to the booth at around 4 pm to vote.

The trouble started early in the day when Deepa visited the booth of Visva Bharati Staff Club. “I told the BLO that our names were in the supplementary list published on Wednesday, but I was told that only those names can vote who are in their list.”At around 10.20, Suprabuddha and Deepa went to the booth with all the documents. “A high-ranking policeman said that we need to get it in writing from the DM, and only then we can vote,” Suprabuddha said.His daughter Isha Dutta took the matter to the DM office through an acquaintance. The attempt was successful. By afternoon a convoy reached his house. “Finally we managed to cast our vote at 4 pm,” said Suprabuddha.