- Saturday, April 27, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and the country’s chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar have hailed a 103-year-old voter in Belagavi district of the poll-bound southern state of Karnataka for exercising his franchise using the home voting facility.
Mahadeva Mahalinga Mali recently cast his vote from home at Chikkodi in Belagavi for the May 10 elections for the Karnataka assembly.
“Shri Mahadev Mahaling Mali has inspired several people by his commitment towards strengthening democracy. It is also in line with the culture of Karnataka, which celebrates democratic values,” Modi wrote on Twitter while tweeting an article by India’s Hindu newspaper.
Shri Mahadev Mahaling Mali has inspired several people by his commitment towards strengthening democracy. It is also in line with the culture of Karnataka, which celebrates democratic values. https://t.co/CVmltmhwTS
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 3, 2023
Officials said Kumar spoke to the centenarian over the phone to thank him for exercising his franchise using the home voting facility.
Home voting takes place before the actual election date in full secrecy in presence of poll officials and representatives of political parties.
Following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the commission has allowed home voting facility to voters who are 80 years and above, and those suffering from the infection or are under quarantine.
Kumar telephoned the centenarian voter on Tuesday (2) to thank him for voting in the state polls.
According to the officials, Kumar told Mahadeva that elderly voters like him are an inspiration for young and urban voters to participate in the festival of democracy.
Mahadeva, they said, thanked the CEC for the facility of voting from home. He also recalled that in the previous elections, he had gone to the polling station in a wheelchair to cast his vote.
Last year, during elections in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, the CEC had visited Kalpa and Kinnaur to pay his condolences to the family of Shyam Saran Negi, independent India’s first voter who had participated in each and every election and also voted in the state polls using the home voting facility before his demise.
(With PTI inputs)
