Senior citizens steal the show in Delhi

A large number of elderly people in the national capital on Thursday came out to cast their ballot as they did not want to be a 'pappu', a name given by Delhi electoral office to those who do not cast their votes. While voting in this country has been suffering blows of scepticism, voters of this age group do it with a sense of duty.

A large number of elderly people in the national capital today came out to cast their ballot as they did not want to be a 'pappu', a name given by Delhi electoral office to those who do not cast their votes.

HT Image

Senior citizens across the seven constituencies queued up to vote right from the early hours of the polling. "I don't want to be a pappu," said 72-year-old Aditya Raizada, showing his ink-mark after coming out from a polling booth at Vinod Nagar in East Delhi constituency.

Raizada, a former scribe, who came with his wife and son added, "Though we don't have much choice, voting for me is a sense of duty. I hope the next government will be a better one."

In Tilak Nagar of West Delhi constituency, 91-year-old Vishambar Das came along with his 80-year-old wife Krishnawati to vote. "I came with a desire that government should do good work and should work for people like us," Das said.

Similarly, an 81-year-old woman was one of the early voters at the Nirman Bhavan polling booth, a VIP polling booth in the capital where political heavyweights exercised their franchise. Even physical discomfort could not deter the spirit of many such voters who braved long queues to exercise their franchise some times even under the scorching sun.

Ram Das, 80, a retired MTNL officer, turned up to vote at a polling station in Hari Nagar area. He came with a urine bag attached.

A number of physically challenged persons voted in Tilak Nagar, Tilak Vihar, Trilokpuri, Mangolpuri, Hari Nagar, Rohini and Rithala areas.

While for some it was a regular exercise of their duty, many came with certain pressing issues in their mind and expectations from their next representative. "I only need food and cloth," said octogenarian Gyarasi Devi, who walked up to a booth at cramp Mangolpuri locality in North-West Delhi, soon after the polling started.

For few, the reason for coming to vote was that they simply did not want to be left out of the political process. "I came here to vote so that parties later do not ask where were you at the time of voting," said Mustaqueen, 80. Delhi has over 21 lakh voters in the age group of 50 to 80 years out of the total 1.1 crore electorate.