Lok Sabha elections: 'I will vote for those who worked for us,' says oldest voter in Delhi after exercising franchise

New Delhi: Age is just a number, says a family member of 111-year-old Bachan Singh, the oldest voter in Delhi who carried a youthful enthusiasm into the polling station in Tilak Vihar. [caption id=“attachment_6617241” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Bachan Singh. API[/caption] Till the last Assembly elections in 2015, the centenarian cycled to the polling booth to cast his vote. This time, he reached the booth in a car along with poll officers in full media glare. He was later wheeled into the polling both using a chair. A paralysis attack around three months ago had rendered the centenarian bedridden. Though Bachan Singh cannot talk like the way he did before, but he knows how important his vote is. “I will vote for those who worked for us,” he said. Interestingly, Singh doesn’t know there’s a party called the AAP and that Arvind Kejriwal is the chief minister of Delhi. “He doesn’t even know that the Aam Aadmi Party exists. For him, every election has been a contest between the BJP and the Congress,” his youngest son, Jasbeer Singh, 63, says. Jasbeer Singh claims his father has never missed out on an election since 1951. Election Commission officers came to Singh’s house to invite him to vote in the sixth phase of national elections. The poll commission will also provide him with pick and drop facility. Talking about the visit, Singh’s daughter-in-law said: “He felt very nice. They talked to him and asked him many questions. They gave him a certificate, a bouquet, and a mug.” “Till a few years ago, he would cycle to the polling booth and cast his vote. He never needed any help. He cooked for himself and spent most of his time doing seva in the gurdwara,” Jasbeer says. The family says they have traditionally voted for the Congress because former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru “supported Namdhari Sikhs at the time of partition”. But they think the Aam Aadmi party should be given another chance in Delhi. His grandson Gulchand Singh said: “He always used to tell us to go vote. He made sure that no vote in our family is wasted.” Bachan Singh, a native of Lalpura in Punjab, lives as well as preaches the motto ’even a single vote should be wasted’. All seven seats of the National Capital vote on 12 May in the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections with inputs from agencies