kolkata in a stark contrast to the 2015 civic election in bidhannagar when widespread violence had rocked salt lake and its neighbouring areas leaving voters candidates and media personnel injured residents on saturday voted in large numbers without any intimidation in almost all parts of the township barring a few sporadic instances of trouble and irregularities surrounding allegations of outsiders and false voting by opposition candidateswith memories of 2015 assaults and hooliganism still fresh in their memories the residents started the day cautiously with few voters turning up at the polling booths in the first hour but as the morning progressed and residents learnt from neighbours and helps about smooth voting and sparse queues at the polling booths they came out in large numbers leaving behind the ghost of 2015 the rising confidence also had a direct impact on vote percentage as well with bidhannagar clocking 72 voter turnoutin 2015 several of our block residents were beaten up at the poll queue for daring to question the movement of outsiders seeing the sight of violence we panicked and ran back to our home only to cast our vote much later however on saturday there was no such violence and we voted in peace at the first attempt itself said kalyan chakraborty 83 a retired irrigation department official and perhaps the first resident of salt lake living at ab block since 1970as the day progressed women came out to vote carrying toddlers in their arms or children cycling beside them young voters came wearing fashionable clothes and stopped for a customary selfie with family or friends with the inked finger and elderly residents came in groups or families in the later morning and afternoon hours chatting among themselvesthe spirit of poll day was evident with excited voters ignoring physical discomforts or disabilities to come out and vote with their family upholding the spirit of democracy 70yearold retired kmda official prabir chakraborty was just one of them who came to the poll booth at ee block with a bandaged head he fell down at the washroom four days back and broke his skull he is still under painkillers and i asked him to skip voting on saturday but he didnt listen and came walking nevertheless even though he is in pain said his wife nupur chakraborty who escorted him to the poll booth84yearold chhaya saha of da block and 90yearold pachkori bhakta of cj block were also the other spirited voter who ignored difficulty in walking and pain in knees as they stepped out to vote for the first time post covid my family didnt allow me to vote during the assembly election but i couldnt miss casting my vote again said sahahowever even as the majority of residents spoke of smooth and peaceful voting across the township there were sporadic instances of irregularities as some candidates and party workers of cpm and bjp levelled allegations of false voting and outsiders infiltration at the wards to rig votesi myself caught multiple fake