Jhargram, April 23 -- In a region where elections are often measured in margins, mobilisations and moments of tension, the opening hours of West Bengal's first phase of polling in Jhargram were claimed by an altogether different presence-one that arrived unannounced, unhurried and entirely indifferent to the choreography of democracy.
At a polling booth set up inside Jitushol Primary School, deep in the forested stretches of Junglemahal, a lone tusker locally known as 'Ramlal' ambled into view on Thursday morning, briefly stalling preparations and casting a surreal pause over what is otherwise a tightly managed administrative exercise.
The animal's quiet passage through a forming queue of voters and past parked vehicles transformed the sc...