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My first vote would be harbinger of development, says 63-yr-old Madan
Madan Mohan Sharma, 63, retired deputy commandant from Central Reserve Police Force is a jubilant man as he is going to cast his first vote of his life on April 10.
Madan Mohan Sharma, 63, retired deputy commandant from Central Reserve Police Force is a jubilant man as he is going to cast his first vote of his life on April 10.
Jammu-based Madan Mohan, who joined forces in 1975, served the nation in various capacities all over India, due to which he remained deprived of casting his franchise as there is no provision in armed forces for its pupil to cast vote from their place of posting.
"Though there is letter system in vogue where people in duty receive a letter of their constituency that goes back as a ballot after we cast the vote, but in my tenure spanning 33 years, I received the letters twice and that only after the elections were over," lamented Mohan while talking to Hindustan Times.
As he prepares to go to cast his vote for the first time, the retired deputy commandant says that he is taking along a soul and ambition of an 18-year-old first-timer with a sense of reasonability of a nation-building ethos.
"Though I failed to contribute to the nation as a voter of this country, I executed my job as armed force personnel with great sense of responsibility and passed every litmus test. I am going to exercise my franchise under the same perception," said Mohan with a confident broad smile.
Presently zonal commissioner in Bharat Sports and Guides, Mohan, after retiring from armed services in 2008, took up RTI activism as his focal goal and so far has filed 100 RTIs.
"I want to see young 'Bharat', which I envisioned since my teenage, and hope that the coming elections would bring the change. And my first vote would count into it," he said.
Recipient of President Police Medal in 2008 and Prime Minister Appreciation certificates in 1989 and 1991, Mohan has been a member of the important Special Protection Group of Rajeev Gandhi to Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Mohan says while in uniform, he contributed in nation building but back into civilian life, he feels misfit as he blames politicians and bureaucrats for eating into the vitals of the society.
"I have full faith that my first vote would be harbinger of development and peace in the country," concludes Madan Mohan Sharma.
