KOLKATA: At the age of 70, BJP's Barasat seat candidate Dr Mrinal Kanti Debnath will not only contest elections for the first time, but he would also even cast his vote for the first time.
The doctor spent most of his professional life in South America, Europe and the Caribbean from 1974 onwards before returning to India 10 years ago. However, even before leaving India and after returning, Debnath never voted.
He attributes a bitter experience during his first election at the age of 18 as the reason for his abstain. "In my first election, when I first went with my father to the polling station, local goons asked us to return home saying they had already cast our vote. That disappointed me and kept me away from voting during my entire life. After returning to India, that bitter experience lingered in my mind and I continued abstaining from vote thinking it would be very humiliating for me to be turned away from the polling station at this age," Debnath said.
However, rival candidates are not ready to buy this justification and have made Debnath's abstain from voting as a major poll issue in their campaigning. "One who has never participated in elections is a misfit in the electoral battle," said TMC candidate and sitting MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar. CPM candidate Haripada Biswas said: "If he had respect for democracy, he would have voted earlier."
However, Debnath is unperturbed by the criticism. "Earlier CPM didn't let people vote. Now, TMC also doesn't let people cast their votes. I would cast my first vote to myself," he said.
Born in Khulna district of former East Pakistan, Debnath had to flee with his family to India in 1964 at the age of 13 and took shelter at Habra in North 24 Parganas district. He completed his school with financial help from a teacher and also cleaned buses to fund his education, sources revealed.
After school, Debnath completed his MBBS from National Medical College in 1974 and then pursued his higher education in South America, London and Vienna. Finally, he worked in the government health department at a Caribbean Island from where he retired and returned back home, sources added.
Debnath's two children are settled in the United States and he leads a retired life with his wife at his Chinar Park residence in Kolkata besides maintaining his father's residence at Habra.