Dear reader,
Election day is today, but we'll have one every week for the next six weeks. So, there are more to come!
First up, we’ve been out and about for the last three weeks, bringing you stories straight from the ground of the constituencies voting today.
We’ve put all these stories together in a tweet thread—take a look and click through the map to see where we’ve been until now.
Today's feature is Cooch Behar, a place with a rich history and sometimes tense election moments. We've gone there to get the details!
Did you know Cooch Behar is actually the very first parliamentary constituency of India? It has a royal past and speaking of it, we cannot miss talking about Maharani Gayatri Devi. She was a princess known for her style and her influential role in Indian politics.
In 1962, Maharani Gayatri Devi won her parliamentary seat by a significant margin, reportedly the largest at the time. She continued to win, holding her seat in 1967 and 1971 as a member of the Swatantra Party.
There's more trivia around this, but let's save that for another time. For now, happy Friday!
Raghu