"A Sunderbans tiger is a ferocious beast and a skilled hunter. If a tiger sets sight on a honey collection party, consider it doomed because very rarely does it retreat without a kill," said Mondal, whose distorted face and chunks of missing flesh from his torso bears testimony to what a tiger attack can do in seconds.

The Sunderbans archipelago has 102 islands, 54 of which have human settlement. The remaining 48 islands are forested. A little over 100 tigers lord over 3,600 sq km that comprise the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve and South 24-Parganas forest division.

The Kumirmari resident considers himself extremely fortuitous to have survived when several hundred have fallen prey to the big cats in one of the most inhospitable terrains in the world. According to forest department figures, 410 persons have been killed and 95 injured by tigers between 1985 and 2010. One in every six victims was a honey collector.

It is lack of alternative means of livelihood that drives them into the jaws of tigers and depths of despair. An IFS officer, who has spent much of his time in the Sunderbans, says the islanders take great risks for paltry gains because no one has bothered to improve their lot.

"Even now when there is Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), it is both puzzling and infuriating that the islanders don't get the benefit. Instead, they go in search of honey and get devoured by tigers," the forester said.

Though the Mamata Banerjee government has made tall claims about Bengal's utilization of MNREGA being among the best, it has hardly trickled down to the remote southern islands.

"In over 60 years since Independence, the government has not been able to create a livelihood option for Sunderbans' villagers. There are entire villages with widows who have lost their husbands to tigers. Still, men continue to risk their lives to collect honey. No one bothers about the deaths," fumed Pabitra Mondal, general secretary of Sunderbans Jana Shramajibi Mancha, a platform for wage earners that claims support of nearly 3 lakh residents in this belt-from Shamshernagar in North 24-Parganas to Sagar Islands in South 24-Pargans.

It is the apathy of the political class that fuels Mondal's angry. Though people of Sunderbans voted for change at the last Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, it has done little to change their fortunes.

Though disgusted with the politicians, the people here know that not voting isn't an option as party workers keep a count of who's voted and who hasn't. "Anyone who has entered the Sunderbans forests will know about the eerie feeling of being watched by a tiger. It's the same feeling during elections. One can sense the gaze of partymen as they watch our moves. If we don't vote, the panchayat gets back by denying our rights," explained crab hunter Debraj Dhali who supports the forum.

Hence at this election, the Sunderbans Jana Shramajibi Mancha offered to vote for any party that takes up their cause. "We want alternative employment and right to minor jungle produce as enshrined in the Forest Rights Act 2006. But with no party caring to address our issues, we intend to press the NOTA button since none of the candidates deserve our vote," Mondal informed.

It is activists like Mondal who are telling villagers the importance of NOTA in the absence of any campaign by Election Commission to explain its significance. In Pakhirala, one of the gateways to Sunderbans forests, Aurobinda Joddar is similarly urging fellow villagers to vote NOTA. "Five years after cyclone Aila, Sunderbans remains vulnerable because the embankments are yet to be strengthened. No one is bothered about the acute drinking water crisis either," Joddar pointed out.

In the politically charged belt where entrenched Left support was overwhelmed by the tide of change in 2009 and 2011, the excitement of 'poriborton' was short-lived. A section of islanders have realized that the change happened only at the top. Down the line, the men simply switched sides.

Octogenarian Dukhiram Giri, who lives in Gosaba-the largest island inhabited by humans in the Sunderbans-feels NOTA may express their displeasure over candidates and political parties but will not change anything fundamentally to improve their lives. "Earlier, there were thieves; now there are dacoits. We have to choose the lesser evil. Forfeiting the choice will take us nowhere," he argued.

The fate of two Lok Sabha seats Joynagar and Mathurapur will be decided by 25.5 lakh islanders whose own fate remain uncertain. At present, all seven Assembly segments in Joynagar and six of seven segments in Mathurapur lie in Sunderbans.

But no one knows what lies in future with the Nobel prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicting largescale inundation of Sunderbans by turn of the century. For the political contestants though, the blinkered vision lies on the ballot box.