Age is just a number, says a family member of 111-year-old Bachan Singh, the oldest voter in Delhi, who carried his youthful enthusiasm into the polling station in Tilak Nagar here.
Mr. Singh and 110-year-old Ram Pyari Sankhwar were the oldest man and woman respectively to cast their vote for the Lok Sabha election in the national capital on Sunday.
Mr. Singh and Ms. Sankhwar have been voting since India’s first general election following Independence.
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This time, they were taken to the polling booth in a car by the polling staff, and also dropped back. Overwhelmed by this gesture from the Office of Delhi’s Chief Electoral Officer, they said it had been a “VIP experience” for them.
Till the last Assembly election in 2015, Mr. Singh cycled to the polling booth to cast his vote. This time, he reached the booth in a car along with poll officers in full media glare.
He was later wheeled into the polling both using a chair. A paralysis attack around three months ago had rendered the him bedridden. Although Mr. Singh cannot walk the way he did before, he knows the importance of his vote.
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“I will vote for those who worked for us,” he said.
“He doesn’t even know that the Aam Aadmi Party exists. For him, every election has been a contest between the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and the Congress,” his youngest son, Jasbeer Singh, 63, said. Mr. Jasbeer Singh claims his father has never missed out on an election since 1951.
The family says they have traditionally voted for the Congress because former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru “supported Namdhari Sikhs at the time of the Partition.” But they think the AAP should be given another chance in Delhi.
Ms. Sankhwar, who is suffering from age-related ailments for the past one decade, exercised her franchise in Kondli. Her son Ram Dhani said his mother was overwhelmed as she was taken to the polling station in a car, which had the mark of the Government of India, with a Delhi constable escorting her. “They treated me like a VIP,” she said.
“Four days back, the District Magistrate and SDM (Sub-Divisional Magistrate) had come to our house to invite my mother to cast her vote. They also honoured her with bouquets and a shawl,” her son said.
Ganga Devi, 107-year-old resident of Kewal Park, was also picked up from home and felicitated at the polling station.
According to data shared by the Delhi CEO’s Office, there are a total of 96 centenarians — 42 male and 54 female — who were eligible to vote in the Lok Sabha polls here. Delhi CEO Ranbir Singh told reporters that, out of them, 47 exercised their franchise and were felicitated. A total of 450 cars were used for pick up and drop facilities, he said.
Besides centenarians, several senior citizens, aged above 80, braved the heat and old-age ailments and turned up at the polling booths to exercise their franchise.