JOIN US Despite high voter turnout in West Bengal and Assam elections, an estimated 20,000 Bengalis and 5,000 Assamese residing in Chennai could not go home and cast their votes.
Natives of these states residing in Chennai for work and educational commitments said the timing of the poll was unsuitable since it coincided with annual exams.
“Most of us, especially students, could not go home for elections due to commitments like exams,” Chennai’s Assam Association secretary Kishore Kalita told Deccan Herald.
“I had office commitments, besides which my son had his exams. So I and my wife could not go to Assam,” Kishore, working at a private company and living in Chennai with his family, said.
Third year engineering student Amrit said his semester exam dates clashed with the elections. “The Election Commission should have organised the polls in May to make it convenient for people like us to go home and vote,” he said.
‘Exams, a hurdle’
An office bearer of Bengali Association in the city also said exams prevented Bengali students from exercising their franchise. Same was the case with thousands of construction workers from the state, some of whom are involved in metro rail construction.
“I will have loss of pay (for leaves). So, I have decided to stay back. Going to my native place and returning would take at least four to five days,” Binod, a native of Jalpaiguri who works at a construction site in Anakaputhur at the outskirts, said.
Students stranded here due to exams pointed out the May 16 poll date for Tamil Nadu and said such a date would have been ideal as exams get over by then.