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Elderly reach booths early, police chief and DM felicitate senior citizens in Gautam Budh Nagar
During morning hours, queues were short at the polling booths of high-rises with mostly senior citizens showing up to exercise their franchise
NOIDA: The Gautam Budh Nagar constituency saw many enthusiastic senior citizens turning up to vote on Friday for the parliamentary polls, and some of the specially-abled and aged-voters were felicitated by the district magistrate.
Elderly people dominated the early hours of the day in twin cities of Noida and Greater Noida, as the day marked the second phase of Lok Sabha elections.
During morning hours, queues were short at the polling booths of high-rises with mostly senior citizens showing up to exercise their franchise.
One such enthusiastic voter was 90-year-old Anguri Devi, who reached the polling booth in Dayanatpur, Jewar. Another one was a 76-year-old woman who arrived in an ambulance to cast her vote, post her recent recovery from an open-heart surgery.
Some of them shared their experiences with HT.
“The arrangements made by the administration at the polling booth here are up to the mark,” said Anil Bhutani, who is in his late 70s, and a resident of Mahagun Mywoods in Sector 16C, Greater Noida.
“Since it is for the first time that polling booths have come up within the societies, voting was a hassle-free experience,” he added.
Till 10am, the residential society that comprises around 3,500 registered voters, saw around 70% voting.
“It took hardly 5-10 minutes for me to complete the voting process,” said 72-year-old Vinod Kumar, a resident of Gaur City 2, who was among the early voters.
“I would have participated in the process even if the polling booth was not set up here in my society. I always exercise my voting right,” said Amit Anand (65), a resident of Amrapali Sapphire, in Noida.
The early voters also included one 86-year-old Sundara, who voted at the polling booth located at Bhaurav Devras Sraswati Vidya Mandir, Sector 12.
At Noida Sector 22 Gandhi Smarak polling booth, arrangements like ramps were put up and wheelchairs were arranged to ensure the specially-abled electors have no inconvenience while voting.
“All arrangements were put in place at the polling booths by the district administration to ensure that all voters including the senior citizens, specially-abled persons among others have a hassle-free experience of voting and to encourage maximum participation of voters,” said district magistrate (GB Nagar) Manish Kumar Verma.
Sector 15A in Noida was among the posh areas that saw active participation in voting by senior citizens.
“It is very important to participate in the electoral process and everyone should cast vote”, said Vibha Gupta, a senior citizen and resident.
“The RWA here has even arranged battery-operated vehicles for ferrying residents till the booth to make it more convenient for us,” she added.
Meanwhile, DM Verma and Police Commissioner (Gautam Budh Nagar) Laxmi Singh later in the day, conducted joint inspections of polling booths.
During their visit, the officers felicitated senior citizens and specially-abled voters with garlands for their participation in the democratic process that concluded at 6pm.
