Voters wade through waterlogged streets to cast their votes. (Express Photo: Partha Paul)

Sitting on a bench outside Habu Da’s tea stall, opposite the heritage ‘Mitra Institution’ in Bhabanipur, Babla Ghosh, 36, speaks dismissively, “What election? People already know the outcome.”

Bhabanipur — the constituency in south Kolkata thrust into the limelight as the seat from where Mamata Banerjee will seek to enter the Assembly through a by-election on September 30, after her loss from Nandigram in the state elections earlier this year — has had an extended electoral season, and the fatigue is showing. Located in south Kolkata, Bhabanipur is arguably the most cosmopolitan part of the city. About 40 per cent of its voters are non-Bengalis — mostly migrants from Punjab, Gujarat, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh.

The place has the quintessential old Kolkata charm — with dilapidated centuries-old bungalows, narrow bylanes, hand-pulled rickshaws and a potua para (potter’s quarters).