106-year-old Shyam Saran Negi from Kinnaur exercises his right to franchise for 34th time

The first voter of Independent India, 106-year-old Shyam Saran Negi, who is from the Himachal Pradesh tribal area of Kinnaur, exercised his right to vote for the 14th Vidhan Sabha elections via mail ballot on Wednesday at his residence in Kalpa.

For the first time, he used a postal ballot to cast his ballot. Negi, who was born in July 1917, cast his first vote in the 1951 Indian general election and has cast sixteen votes in Lok Sabha elections. Since 2014, he has also become a state election icon. A teacher by profession, the centenarian has voted in every election since 1951 and has never missed an opportunity to vote.

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Abid Hussain Sadiq, the district election officer who serves as the deputy commissioner, claimed that a red carpet was arranged for him to convey him to the postal booth set up in the yard of his home. Sadiq said, "Negi was carried on a red carpet to the polling place where he exercised his right to vote, and shortly after his vote was sealed in an envelope and deposited in the ballot box."

A total of 170403 Form 12-D were sent to voters over the age of 80, voters with disabilities (PwD), and those working in the state's important services in order to secure special category voters' participation in the election process.

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