Jyoti Basu unlikely to vote in Lok Sabha polls

Kolkata, May 11 (IANS) West Bengal's ruling Left Front (LF) patriarch Jyoti Basu is unlikely to cast his vote in this Lok Sabha election because of frail health.

'Perhaps this time, Basu will not be able to exercise his franchise in the general election because of his health,' the 95-year-old Basu's personal assistant Joykrishna Ghosh told IANS.

This would be the first election when Basu would not be able to vote and he was feeling sad about it, Ghosh said.

'He told me personally that this year he will not be in a position to cast his vote in the election as he is not physically well,' he added.

Basu, who resides in the satellite township of Salt Lake, is a voter in the Barasat Lok Sabha seat in North 24 Parganas.

Born on July 8, 1914, in Kolkata to a wealthy family, Basu was the state's chief minister from 1977 to 2000, when he quit voluntarily on health grounds.