CHENNAI: The polling booth in Kovilambakkam is crowded with at least 500 people; amidst them walks a 95-year-old woman, alone, holding a walking stick. Allowed to skip the queue for voting due to her age, she casts her vote in five minutes and comes back and tells TNIE, “I have never missed voting for even one election ever since I became eligible.”
This is the story of Devanayagi, a nonagenarian, who is an ardent fan of former chief minister MG Ramachandran, for whom she still continues to vote for the AIADMK. She had walked alone to the polling station without any support. At a time when voting percentage remains to be abysmally low in many districts, people like Devanayagi, who doesn’t even mind their age while performing their democratic duty, stand as an example for many who choose not to vote.
TNIE caught up with many like her at various polling booths in Chengalpet; most of them alone, some carried by their family members. “Voting is our basic duty, but many youngsters don’t believe in our politicians and don’t vote. We can at least vote for someone instead of wasting our vote,” Devanayagi says.
Noornisha, another 95-year-old, who was carried out of the polling booth by her daughter and son-in-law, says, “Panchayat elections are tight contests; the candidate I voted for is from my street. I did not want to waste my vote as every vote counts.”
In Ponmar village near Thiruporur, 90-year-old Anbazhasi sits on a mat near the polling booth. Her relatives carry her to the booth, as she is unable to walk due to her old age. Patiently waiting to exercise her franchise, she says it was she who urged the relatives to take her to the booth, even though they did not want to.