Governor P. Sathasivam on Monday created history as he joined hundreds of others in exercising his franchise at a polling booth in Jawahar Nagar in the capital city. He was the first serving Governor of Kerala to cast a vote in an election.
Voting had already picked up pace at the Jawahar Nagar Lower Primary School when the Governor and his wife, Saraswathy, arrived to vote at 8.30 a.m.
They were immediately mobbed by waiting newsmen and photographers.
Even as security personnel sweated it out to clear a path for him, a smiling Governor took his place in the queue and waited for his turn to cast the ballot. Also in the queue at that time was the Latin Archbishop Soosa Pakiam M.
Shortly afterwards he came out of the polling booth and in response to requests from journalists held up his left index finger on which the indelible ink mark was clear.
When it was pointed out to him that he had created history by voting, Mr. Sathasivam nodded and smiled. When asked how he felt to be the first Governor who had voted, he replied that it was his duty as the first citizen of the State to set an example by voting in the elections.
With that the Governor and his entourage departed as quickly as they had come. The first citizen’s tryst with the ballot box had lasted but a few minutes.
Shortly afterwards BJP candidate in the Nemom constituency O. Rajagopal also cast his ballot in an adjoining booth.
