Kolkata: They compared manifestos, assessed past records of parties and examined how the candidate would make a difference. It was a carefully considered decision for the many first-time voters here who exercised their franchise on Wednesday in the third phase of the West Bengal assembly elections.
Excitement was writ large on the faces of the debutant voters, mostly students, who came out of the booths.
"I am very excited after voting for the first time. My criterion in choosing my candidate was based on my understanding about who will give the best facilities for education," said Gitanjali Dey, a third year student of mass communication (Hons).
"From today I am part of this vibrant democracy. But I was asked to give a thumb impression rather than signing as they were in a hurry," said Soumma Roy Choudhury, another student doing the same course.
"I considered the past records of candidates and the parties while exercising my franchise," she said.
Both Gitanjali and Soumma are students of Asutosh College and are voters of Kasba assembly constituency, which sees Left Front candidate Satarup Ghosh taking on Trinamool Congress's Javed Khan.
A few youths zeroed in on their preferences after rating the two rivals TMC and Left Front on the yardstick of delivering on their promises.
"I am very happy after giving the first vote of my life. Everything was new to me," said Sumanto Dutta Choudhury, a third year student of computer science engineering.
"I went through the manifestos of both the parties to decide who has been able to satisfy us through their performances in the past," said Sumanto, a voter of Bhawanipore assembly constituency where the fight was betweenTMC's Subrata Bakshi and Left Front's Narayan Jain.
TMC chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee is also a voter of Bhawanipore assembly constituency.
"It really excites me that I cast my vote in an election which is being termed as historic. While voting I saw the performance of the party which was earlier elected from here. I want peace in my area," said student Sayantan Banerjee, a voter in Sonarpur North constituency where the contest was between Left Front's Shyamal Naskar and TMC's Jiban Mukherjee. While some first-time voters kept mum on their ideology, there were some who were candid enough to reveal their ideological preferences.
"Though I am a first-time voter, I am a die hard Marxist," said Amaresh Chakroborty of Baruipur West constituency where Left Front candidate Kanak Kanti Parai and TMC candidate Biman Banerjee battled each other.
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