Veterans show first-time voters the way

Braving the irksome morning sun, 85-year-old Radhakrishna R trudged his way to the polling station in Kadu Malleshwara ward to cast his vote in the BBMP polls on Sunday.

“I have never missed casting my vote in any election until now, and I will continue to do so till I have the strength in my body. I am a citizen of the country and I know I must exercise my right till the last breath,” said the octogenarian in a quivering but firm tone.

DNA came across several such tales of gritty senior citizens who braved the odds to stand up and make their votes count, during a drive across the city.

Seventy-year-old Dr Sheshadri, who worked as a scientist across India before settling down in Bangalore, said, “I have never failed to cast my vote in any place. The first thing that I always did on shifting to a new place was to transfer my voter details and get registered in the electoral list of that place. I never forget my responsibility to exercise my franchise, but today’s generation seems to have forgotten the significance of voting.” Dr Sheshadri and his wife were among the earliest voters at their booth.

However, voters at Sagayapuram ward seemed to prove Dr Sheshadri wrong. There was a long queue of youngsters, mostly first-time voters, at a polling booth, clearly outnumbering the elderly population.

And as commonplace as problems like misspelt or missing names, were incidents of those who stood their ground, picked out their names from the endless voters’ lists and flashed alternative identity proof documents to exercise their franchise.

Mohammad Tayyab Sait, a first-time voter and BBM student, was upset to find his name misspelt in the voters’ list. “I do not have an EPIC card, and also my name was misspelt in the voters’ list. However, when I explained my situation to the polling staff, they readily verified my identity proof and I was able to vote without much problem,” said a smiling Sait.

Another proud first-timer was 19-year-old Priya Pai of Gayatrinagar ward. “I am proud to become a participating citizen today. I am casting my vote for the first time and I did some background check on the candidates contesting from my ward. I am feeling good about it as not many people take that small effort to vote for the right candidate,” she said.

Volunteers from the three major parties were seen in huge numbers outside every booth to help voters locate their names in the lists. And zealous as they were, they did not lose an opportunity to put in a word of advice to the voters to vote for their candidate.

At Sagayapuram ward in Richards Town where hooch queen of yesteryear, Marimuthu, is contesting, her son, Dasharatha, was heard declaring: “No matter what, my mother will win”.