India’s 1st post-independence voter dies at 106

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Shayam Saran Negi, considered India’s first post-independence voter, died on Saturday (5), aged 106, not before casting his last vote. Killed of natural causes at his home in the village of Kalpa in the district of Himachal Pradesh, he voted in state elections three days before he died.

His body is due to be cremated in the next few days, in a ceremony with official honors from the Indian government.

In 1951, in the elections that would only end the following year, Negi was the first of 173 million voters. At the time, the country had around 360 million inhabitants, a figure far from the current 1.4 billion.

It was the first chance for newly independent India to elect representatives to the Lower House. Due to the mountainous terrain of the Himalayas and the winter months in Himachal Pradesh, ballot boxes were sent to the region many months before the start of the election – there were fears that the snow and difficult access conditions would make it impossible to collect the votes. in the colder months.

Negi was 34 years old when he first voted, something he did assiduously over the next 72 years. Born in 1917, he has participated in all 34 elections held to date, whether national or for local government, according to Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.

Parliamentarians and ministers demonstrated after the death was announced. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who shared Negi’s latest vote on social media, said his example “should serve as an inspiration for young people to participate in elections and strengthen our democracy.”

Then, during a campaign act, he highlighted that, “even before his death, he fulfilled his duty”. On Twitter, the Electoral Commission of India (ECI) said that Negi was “not only the first voter of independent India, but a man with exceptional faith in democracy”.

Its status as a symbol of democracy earned it an official ceremony. A volley of gunfire marked the funeral of Negi, an elementary school teacher who spent his life in the Kalpa settlement.

In 2007, the ECI drew up a special protocol to welcome him, and for the past 15 years, every time he stepped into an election session, the local administration rolled out a red carpet to take him to the polls.

First voter fame has spread across the country, and in 2014 he starred in a Google campaign in India, which shows the 97-year-old Negi walking towards a polling place.

His last participation in an election, however, was not in a polling station. Poor health and old age prevented him from leaving his home: so he sent the vote by mail. Then he gave an interview. “Being here… Nothing makes me happier,” Negi said, according to the Indian Express newspaper.

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