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Patna’s conjoined twins vote separately for first time, hope their MP will address their problems
Saba and Farah hoped that their new Member of Parliament (MP) from Patna Sahib would spare sometime from his busy schedule to address their woes.
Conjoined twins, Saba and Farah, cast their votes as separate individuals for the first time in Bihar on Sunday during the final phase of Lok Sabha elections. They were enrolled in the electoral roll for Digha assembly segment under Patna Sahib Lok Sabha seat.
During the 2015 assembly elections in Bihar, the sisters had cast their vote on a single voter identity card.
Saba and Farah hoped that their new Member of Parliament (MP) from Patna Sahib would spare sometime from his busy schedule to address their woes.
Visibly excited after pressing the button on EVM, the sisters said, “We are living in an utterly deplorable condition. My parents are very poor and ageing. Soon, we would be dependent on our only brother, Md Tamanna for survival. To the new MP, its our earnest prayer that he may help our brother with a government job so that he becomes capable of taking care of us better till the end of our lives,” they said.
Saba and Farah have three more sisters and one brother. Their father, Md Shakeel Ahmad, ran a fast food joint but given the financial constraints, he discontinued the business recently and does odd jobs as a helper. Tamanna, their eldest and only brother, is a final year graduation student, who also does some odd jobs to supplement the family’s income.
Farah said, there is a myth among the people that after their meeting with Bollywood superstar, Salman Khan, all their problems have been addressed, as Saba shook her head in affirmation. “We still do not have a concrete roof to live under. Many people made several promises, but none was fulfilled. We are completely dependent on our father and brother. So we request the government to do good for them,” said Shakeel sisters.
Patna district magistrate, Kumar Ravi, had told a news agency on Saturday that “the twins cannot be denied their individuality on account of being conjoined. They have different minds, different opinions. Therefore, this time they were given separate voter ID cards and would cast their votes by turns”.
“We both went to Madarsa Islamia poll booth to cast our votes. In the last Lok Sabha Election only I got to press the EVM button as we were treated as single entity, but this time we both voted one by one,” said Saba.
In 2005, after the Abu Dhabi crown prince offered to bear the estimated cost of $1 million for the operation, the twins were examined at Apollo Hospital. American neurosurgeon Benjamin Carson travelled to New Delhi to study them. He agreed to perform the risky operation assisted by Indian doctors. Shakeel Ahmad said, “The delay in surgery has affected their health condition. They have been suffering from health problems and are getting weaker by the day.”
