110-year-old Kalitara Mandal from Chittaranjan Park, the city’s oldest voter, said she was elated to be able to vote at her age. The centenarian, who was escorted by her son, daughter-in-law and grandson, said she had never missed an opportunity to vote since the time she got her voter-ID.
Her son Sukhranwan Mandal said they are refugees from Bangladesh, who initially stayed in a camp and then were transferred to Chhattisgarh before finally coming to Delhi.
Mr. Mandal said he was a child when he came to the city hence does not remember when the family moved to Delhi. “I believe it was around 1970, I am not sure,” he said, adding that his mother was born in undivided India in 1908 and has seen the partition of India and Pakistan and then of Bangladesh and Pakistan.
“I take care of her. She does not have any particular health issues,” said Mr. Mandal.
Assistant Returning Officer Harish Kumar, who went to Ms. Mandal’s house to provide her pick-and-drop facility, said: “This time, we have extended the pick-and-drop facility to all voters above 80 years of age.”
“There was a centralised call centre — 1950, where people called to book the facility. After this, our booth-level officer, supervisor and volunteers gave them a time slot for providing the facility,” he added.
