BENGALURU: At the ripe age of 100, Gangavva Vastrad of Talewad village in Kohlur taluk, Vijayapura, and Yallubai Venkanna Lad from Ashte village in Chikkodi, proved that if the spirit is willing and will is strong, nothing can stop them from doing their ballot duty.
This was also true for Moin M Junnedi, the para-swimmer who came in a wheelchair, beating the scorching summer heat and temperatures of over 42 degree Celsius to vote in Tilakwadi, Belagavi, on Tuesday. Hanumavva, a 95-year-old specially challenged woman, came all by herself to her booth in Kudligi, Ballari district.
Similarly, Shivagangamma (98) preferred to visit the booth in Abbalagere, Shimoga parliamentary constituency, as did Radhamma (98) from Sanganakallu village in Ballari, unmindful of heat wave conditions.
Participating in Phase-3 of the Lok Sabha elections in 14 parliamentary constituencies spread over Kalyan, Malnad and Kittur Karnataka regions, these voters truly celebrated the festival of democracy.
Data from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Karnataka, showed that a total of 32,433 (95.08%) voters cast their vote from home, of the 34,110 approved voters. CEO Karnataka, Manoj Kumar Meena told The New Indian Express that VFH (vote from home) was introduced for the first time in this election. “The staffers approached voters booth-wise, based on the list they had prepared, but many voters preferred to visit polling booths, saying they enjoyed the experience.”
This was not the case with 85-year old Ganapathi Shinde, though, who came to vote in Hukkeri because officials did not visit his home.
A group of 265 mentally challenged people in Vijayapura came to the booth to vote. Similarly, a visually challenged person used the Braille facility in Vijayapura. Specially challenged Praveen and Chaya came in wheelchairs, undeterred by the poor facilities at Maravanthe polling booth.