At 100, India's first voter to cast vote again; EC to roll out red carpet

The Election Commission has made special preparations for independent India's first voter Shyam Saran Negi to vote in the upcoming assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh on November 9.

As Negi finds it difficult to walk at the age of 100, Kinnaur district administration will provide a special vehicle to take him to the polling station and drop him back home. At the polling station, Negi would receive a grand welcome.

Post-independence, when parliamentary polls were being held in the country for the first time, the EC had advanced the voting in Kinnaur, keeping in mind harsh winters and early snowfall. The elections were held in other parts of the country in January and February, 1952.


On October 25, 1951, Negi became the first Indian to cast his vote in independent India for Mandi-Mahasu parliamentary constituency (now Mandi). The EC had then carried the election material to Chini (now Kalpa) village polling station, located in a primary school, on mules. He was a government school teacher at the time and retired in 1975.

“He is an inspiration to others as he has never missed the chance to vote“ said Surma Devi his daughter-in-law. Negi's name became populr after Google created a video of him for its #PledgeToVote campaign during the 2014 parliamentary polls, where he is shown narrating the story of the first vote.

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