- Friday, April 19, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
Indian author-philanthropist Sudha Murty, wife of Narayana Murthy, co-founder of tech giant Infosys and mother-in-law of British prime minister Rishi Sunak, on Wednesday (10) cast her ballot as the southern state of Karnataka went to polls.
The 71-year-old Murty, who hails from the state, voted at a polling booth in Jayanagar area of south Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka. Accompanied by her husband, the award-winning educator encouraged voters to turn up and cast their ballots.
Speaking to Asian News International, Murty said, “I always tell them (youth) to come and vote and then you have the power to talk, without voting you do not have any power to talk.”
#WATCH | "I always tell them (youth) to come and vote and then you have the power to talk, without voting you do not have any power to talk," says Sudha Murty#KarnatakaElections pic.twitter.com/1E8v0EEpUI
— ANI (@ANI) May 10, 2023
“Please look at us. We are oldies but we get up at 6 o’clock, come here and vote. Please learn from us. Voting is a sacred part of democracy,” Murty, who was recently conferred India’s third-highest Padma Bhushan Award, told reporters.
“It is the responsibility of the elders to sit down with youngsters and advise them why voting is important. That’s what my parents did,” Murthy said.
He also urged people to exercise their franchise and said people do not have the right to “criticise” governance if they do not cast their ballots.
“First, we vote and then we can say this is good, this is not good but if we don’t do that then we don’t have the right to criticise,” he said while talking to the reporters.
Murthy said he had returned this morning from abroad and had turned up to vote.
Nandan Nilekani, another co-founder of Infosys, also cast his vote at a polling booth in Bengaluru’s Koramangala area.
Polling was underway across the southern state since 7 am local time amid tight security.
The results will be declared on Saturday (13).
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is looking to reverse history by beating anti-incumbency to return to power while the opposition Indian National Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) are eyeing return to power.
