Independent India's first voter keeps his date with the polls

Kalpa (Kinnaur): Independent India’s first voter Shyam Saran Negi today cast his vote at a polling booth at his native place here. 97-year old Negi reached the polling booth at 6.55 AM accompanied by his wife Hira Mani (92).

Shyam Saran Negi became the first voter of the country when elections were held for the first time in the country on October 25, 1951 in Kinnaur. The polling was held in phases and other parts of the country went to polls in February 1952.

The State Election Commission had recently appointed him as its brand ambassador for the poll campaign in the tribal region.

Negi’s name and face had become well-known since Google created a video of him for their #PledgeToVote campaign. You can see Google’s video here.

Negi’s name was registered at serial no 123 in polling booth no 50 today and incidentally the booth was set up in the school from where he had retired after serving for 23 years. He was the first person to cast his vote there, followed by his wife.

Kinnaur Deputy Commissioner DD Sharma welcomed Negi at the polling station and honoured him by presenting a cap and scarf when he came out of the polling booth. Thanking the government for recognising him as the first voter, Negi appealed people to come out and cast their votes.

In the Google video we see that come rain, hail, snow or storm, Negi has never missed voting during a single election since 1951. Negi also spoke in the video about pride and exhilaration he feels on each voting day, like it were his first.

Google’s campaign video was made by Oglivy India and directed by Sukesh Nayak. Nayak had told Firstpost at the time, “We wanted to create a piece of work that didn’t preach, but inspired; that didn’t complain but, encouraged. When we came up with this thought, we all knew in an instant that this is what we should try to do.”

He also said that meeting with Negi was an emotionally enriching one. ““We had to travel almost 14 hours by road to get to Kalpa. Meeting him was extremely humbling, especially when we heard his thoughts on why he has never missed voting in an election. His belief in the power of democracy is so inspiring.”

With inputs from PTI