Tamil Nadu: 78-year-old ill woman dies in booth before voting

MADURAI: A 78-year-old woman, who was determined to vote in spite of her failing health, died soon after the polling officer put the indelible ink on her finger and before she could register her vote in a village in Madurai district on Wednesday.
Yasodai, a resident of Periya Ulagani which is part of Thirumangalam constituency, had been ill for a while but had walked to the polling booth, about 300m from her house, on Wednesday with the help of Murugan, a DMK cadre.She entered the booth and the polling officer applied the indelible ink on her finger. When Yasodai started walking towards the EVM, she fainted and died on the spot.
Despite her failing health, she had been excited about exercising her franchise, neighbours said. "Over the last few months, she rarely left the house as she was ill but all of last week she was talking of nothing but voting," said Virumandi, a neighbour.
Yasodai's death caused a flutter in the village. Residents carried the body to her house before coming back to exercise their franchise. Village administrative officer S Saravanan said that the short walk to the booth in the sun seemed to have taken its toll on the elderly woman.
Yasodai's son P Deivendran, a labourer, said his mother never failed to vote though she was illiterate. "She was one of the first people in her village to stand in the queue during the Thirumangalam byelections in 2009," he said.