Many young couples on Monday combined wedding and voting, with a hurried trip to the polling booth turning out to be their first outing after being married.
In Tiruchi, car financier and dealer D. Suresh Kumar, having just tied the knot with S.B. Preetha, rushed from Vayalur, where the wedding took place, to the polling booth at Sri Sivananda Balalaya in Ramalinga Nagar — much to the amusement of fellow voters and election officials.
As Ms.Preetha stood aside (she is a resident of Bengaluru), Mr. Suresh Kumar cast his vote and the two walked out quickly to get back to the wedding hall to complete the remaining rituals.
“I had never missed to vote in my life. I did not want to miss this time too and decided to go and vote soon after we had lunch. I told my wife that we were going to a temple and came straight here. It was a hectic day as I had to receive all the guests, but am happy that I could vote,” he told The Hindu .
Setting an example
Mr. Suresh Kumar said that he also wanted to set an example. “I also asked my parents and relatives to go and vote after the wedding ceremony was over. All should vote without fail,” he said.
In Madurai, software professional S. Shivaraj and his bride Bhuvaneshwari arrived in a sedan, dressed in wedding finery, at the Avvai Girls Higher Secondary School on New Vakkil Street, where Shivaraj voted. Similarly K. Balavignesh, who got married to B. Utharapriya, rushed to vote in Vadipatti after his wedding. The brides, in both cases, were registered as voters in their parents’ homes, both at some distance from Madurai.
Three in Erode In Erode too, three couples in the Gobichettipalayam constituency voted in their wedding attire — and the brides, incidentally, shared the same name.
( With inputs from Pon Vasanth Arunachalam in Madurai and R. Krishnamoorthy in Erode )
