First voter of independent India voted in Kalpa polling station at 9711 feet

SHIMLA:

Shyam Saran Negi

(102) first voter of independent India was accorded rousing reception when arrived at Kalpa polling station of

Kinnaur district

in

Himachal Pradesh

located at 9711 feet above sea level to cast his vote for parliamentary election on Sunday. Negi voted for 32nd time and has claimed that he never misses a chance to vote. He was brought to the polling station in a vehicle specially sent by district administration.



Negi arrived at Kalpa Model Polling Station, that was special decked up to welcome him, at 11 am. Officials from district administration had gone to Negi’s residence to receive him. He was given red carpet welcome by Election Commission on reaching the polling station set up at Kalpa school.

A retired school teacher, Negi first time had voted in 1951. October 25, 1951 Negi had scripted history by becoming the first to cast his ballot in Independent India. Post independence when parliamentary elections were being held in the country for the first time, considering harsh winters and early snowfall a decision was taken to hold the voting in Kinnaur on October 25, 1951 while in other parts of the country voting was held in January-February, 1952.

Then election material then was carried to Chini village polling station, located in a primary school, on mules back. At that time Mandi parliamentary constituency was known as the Mandi-Mahasu parliamentary constituency. Negi who was a government school teacher and retired from service in 1975, was the first to cast his vote at Chini village (now known as Kalpa).

Negi's name and face became known globally after Google created a video of him for its #PledgeToVote campaign during 2014 parliamentary elections. As the Google video had gone viral, Negi became a household name as he was shown narrating the story of October 25, 1951 when he had stepped outside to walk towards the polling station despite heavy snowfall.

Negi in the video had also revealed whether snow or rain he had always made it a point to cast his ballot.