110-yr-old, hundreds of differently abled & a baraat at booths
The last phase of polling for Lok Sabha elections in the districts of Mandi and Kullu, which concluded at 6 pm on Sunday, saw thousands of persons with disabilities, centenarians and even a bridegroom come to cast their vote.
When Shadi Devi, the oldest woman of village Shakti under Banjar constituency of district Kullu, arrived to cast her vote, she was welcomed and honoured with a colourful scarf by polling staff at the booth. In the same spirit, two other centenarians cast their votes – 105-year-old Shamsher Kapoor at Upper Sultanpur area booth of Kullu town and 102-year-old Tulaki Devi at the Badah polling booth of Kullu district.
At the Katrain polling booth under Manali area of district Kullu, 100% disabled men and women cast their vote. Notably, 2,267 handicapped voters are registered in Kullu district, and it is reported that all of them cast their vote, which is a record achievement of the district administration.
The EC had not only made all arrangements to ensure that persons with disabilities do not face any difficulty in exercising the right to their franchise, but also empowered people with disabilities by making them in-charge of polling booths.
As many as 10 polling booths in Himachal were headed by a person with disabilities. Some of these booths were Bhattakufar in Shimla district, Bhangrotu in Mandi district and Veterinary Building in Solan.
A MARRIAGE PARTY AT A BOOTH
Yunus said that a bridegroom, too, had delayed his journey to cast his vote at the polling booth No 8 of Manali area, despite pressure from his relatives to ditch voting because he was getting late in reaching his bride-to-be’s home for the wedding ceremony.
In Mandi district, women, youth and elderly formed long queues at the polling booths in the morning which resulted a record 31% polling by 11 am.
Although, it is reported that women were in a hurry to cast their vote to reach in their fields and harvest their standing crop in time. In rural areas of district Mandi, arrangements had been made by the district administration to provide drinking water and shelter from the sun or sudden rain.
CENTENARIANS VOTE FOR ‘BETTER FUTURE’
Centenarians voters in Himachal Pradesh were welcomed with a red carpet and flowers at polling booths, where they came to participate in the nation’s most important democratic exercise.
The vibrant energy of 103year-old Changu Ram Sharma from Arki of Solan, was inspirational as he sang a traditional bhajan after casting his vote.
109-year-old Shari Devi, from Shakti village of Kullu district, cast her vote and wished for better future of the country.
Himachal’s chief election officer Devesh Kumar said that centenarian voters of the state were given special attention and a grand welcome at polling stations.
However, many centenarian voters were not able to cast their vote due to health conditions. Of the total 53, 30, 154 voters in Himachal Pradesh, 999 voters are centenarians which include 377 males and 622 females.
The highest number of centenarian voters is in Kangra district, which has a total of 293 voters – 111 men and 182 women. The least number of centenarian voters are in Lahaul Spiti district which has only 5 voters – 2 men and 3 women.