kolkata homemaker nandita kumar a resident of upscale elita garden vista in new town made her rural poll debut on monday kumar started her day early when she hopped into her chauffer driven sedan not to head to the cool environs of a nearby mall for some retail therapy but to the hot and dusty climes to cast her vote in the panchayat the rural elections have blurred the ruralurban divide in new town which boasts of an 18km eightlane expressway cutting through it lined with expensive real estate universities it hubs and automobile showrooms close to 3000 residents in different pockets of new town went to polling booths in rural pockets with the urban sprawl to cast their panchayat votes before heading to their officesit is my duty to cast my vote and it does not matter if it is for parliament or panchayat said kumar a homemaker who braved the blazing sun for over 45 minutes in a queue before she could cast her vote the local candidate and his associates have been of great help to us always moreover voting today has also given me an opportunity to interact with some wonderful people a 2bhk apartment in elita garden vista costs upwards of rs 75 lakhmany residents found it ironical that they pay for civic amenities of an urban body but vote in rural elections i am casting my vote in panchayat elections but i pay property tax according to rates determined by an urban governing body i do not know if i should be amused or feel angry about it said arun dutta a retired state government employee and a resident of action area 1sayanti mondal who is pursuing her msc came to vote with her father a senior manager with the reserve bank of india it was a nice experience to stand in the same queue with residents of nearby villages and vote said sayanti the gram panchayats are lowestlevel units empowered to govern rural areas but new town is not governed by panchayats the government had formed the new town kolkata development authority in 2007 to look after the townships civic infrastructure but since the township does not have adequate number of residents the government has not been able to make it a municipality as a result most residents have had to vote in the panchayat electionsaction area 1 which houses several highrises and around 25000 families is part of the mahishbatan number 2 gram panchayat many parts of action area 3 fall under patharghata panchayat area in the midnineties the erstwhile left front government had conceptualised the township spread across 34 mouzas to provide housing to almost 10 lakh families and create business hubs for attracting investments especially in the it sector the first batch of residents moved into the fledgling township in 2006but the prepoll violence and images of lawlessness in districts during the polls on monday deterred many in new town from going to the booths