India’s ‘first’ voter Shyam Saran Negi, 102, casts vote in Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur

India's "first" voter Shyam Saran Negi on Sunday reached his polling booth in Himachal Pradesh's Kinnaur district to exercise his franchise. Shyam, 102 was honoured by the local administration by rolling out a red carpet. The Shimla (SC), Hamirpur, Kangra and Mandi seats went to polls on Sunday along with 55 other Lok Sabha constituencies in the country.

Negi, a retired school teacher was born on July 1, 1917, as per his official records. Urging voters to exercise their franchise, Negi said, "I was a school teacher then and had been put on election duty. Due to it, I reached my polling booth at Kalpa primary school in Kinnaur at 7 am to cast my vote. I was the first one to reach there and cast my vote."

Negi said that he has never missed voting in any election be that of Panchayat. "Elect honest and active candidates for your parliamentary seats instead of voting for particular parties," Negi told news agency PTI.

He has also made a special appearance in a Hindi film Sanam Re. He was appointed as the State Brand Ambassador by The State Election Commission for the poll campaign in the tribal region.

Voting is being held in the seventh and last phase of Lok Sabha Polls in seven states and one Union Territory, which include all 13 seats in Punjab and an equal number of seats in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight seats each in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, four in Himachal Pradesh, three in Jharkhand and the lone seat Chandigarh.