“I have voted, have you? A wonderful start to my birthday, as a responsible citizen of our great nation,” tweeted cricketer Sachin Tendulkar this morning along with a selfie showing the voter mark on his finger. Tendulkar, who is celebrating his 41st birthday on Thursday, had come along with wife Anjali, to cast his vote in a Bandra polling booth.
Among the early bird celebrities who turned up to exercise their right were actors Rekha, Vidya Balan, Aamir Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Dharmendra and lyricist Prasoon Joshi.
“It is my responsibility to vote. If tomorrow I am faced with a problem, I want to point my finger at someone then I need to have this (voter mark) on my finger,” Vidya Balan said to the media after casting her vote in Chembur.
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Actor Aamir Khan too made it a point to stress the need for people to come out and vote, considering Mumbai is infamous for its comparatively low voter turnout. “Me, coming out to vote is my duty as an Indian. I would like to appeal to all Indians to come out and vote. It is important for every Indian to be a part of this process.”
Juhi Chawla, Shilpa Shetty, Kunal Kapoor, Shreya Ghoshal, Dia Mirza, Farhan Akhtar, Zoya Akhtar, John Abraham and Riteish Deshmukh were other celebrities who cast their vote.
Many took to the twitter to urge people to vote and also posted pictured of their voter marked-fingers like actors Rahul Bose, Raveen Tandon, Sonam Kappor and director Kunal Kohli.
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Shah Rukh Khan tweeted, “Most times I don't even get to choose the channel I want to watch on tv. Today I have an opportunity to choose my country's future. Awesome!”, while model Milind Soman posted a simple “Get out and vote :):)”
Some like lyricist and Rajya Sabha MP Javed Akhtar, wife Shabana Azmi, and actors Saif Ali Khan, Anil Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, Sonakshi Sinha and many others gave the elections a miss as they are away attending the IIFA in the U.S. When asked about this, Prasoon Joshi, who is scheduled to fly out to attend the IIFA after casting his vote said, “It is their individual decision. I am sure they have their own solid reason to do what they are doing.”
That many actors chose IIFA over the elections has drawn flak from many in the social media community.
(With PTI inputs).