Himachal elections: Red carpet awaits Shyam Sharan Negi, the first voter of Independent India

Shyam Sharan Negi, the first first voter of Independent India will be accorded a red carpet  welcome at Kalpa polling booth in Himachal Pradesh’s tribal Kinnaur constituency when he goes to cast his vote on Thursday.

101-year-old Negi has cast his vote in all the sixteen Lok Sabha and fourteen state Assembly elections held in the independent India so far.

Today, Shyam Sharan Negi will cast his vote for the record 31st time.

Elections in snowbound areas post Independence were held on October 25, 1951 while rest of the country went into polls in 1952. Negi was the first voter who cast his vote.

He was a teacher and posted on the Kalpa polling booth for election duty and cast his vote on the same booth. 

He was appointed a brand ambassador of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and would be provided a car to reach the polling booth and polling officer Arvind Sharma would receive him and escort him to the EVM, officials said.

The elections on sixty-eight assembly seats in the Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh will be held on Thursday, November 8.

(With PTI Inputs)