Newlyweds halt celebrations, line up in finery to exercise franchise

BENGALURU: Newlyweds and soon-to-be life partners briefly put their celebrations on hold and rushed to polling booths in their beautiful raiments to vote on Thursday.


There were a number of weddings and social functions in the state as April 18 was considered a good muhurtham. Most of the wedding halls in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi were full.

While pledging to accept a permanent duty towards each other, many couples did not forget their democratic responsibility, quickly visiting polling stations to record their choice of MPs.

Prathigna, from Sajipandu, cast her vote at the Government High Primary School in Benke, Dakshina Kannada, whereas her fiancé, Sumith Poojary, exercised his franchise at Polali Government School. A few hours later, they got married at Polali Sri Rajarajehwari Temple.

“It’s every citizen’s duty to vote. It was our big day, but we had decided that we would vote,” the couple told local media.

Bride-to-be Ramya Shetty, a resident of Nithyananda Nagar, Dakshina Kannada, made a stop at a polling booth en route to the wedding venue. In Kaup, Udupi district, Ritesh Sanil took his family to a polling station before his marriage.

Shwetha and Shirish Karkera went to vote shortly after tying the knot at Hotel Lalith International Sabagruha, Surathkal. In Bengaluru, CM Ashok and Hari Lakshmi followed the same order. “We had a temple wedding in the morning and then lined up at a polling booth to vote,” Ashok said.

At a polling station in Goluru village, Tumakuru Rural constituency, newlyweds Ravish and Jyothi were the centre of attention. They got married at a hall in Tumakuru town around 10.30am, rushing through to the rituals, and first went to Goluru, where Ravish cast his vote. The couple then visited KG Temple of Gubbi taluk so Jyothi exercise her franchise.

But not everyone who took the trouble of visiting the polling station in wedding finery could vote. In Kundur village, Mudigere taluk, 21-year-old Suneetha could not register her ballot because of a VVPAT glitch. She waited at Kundur Higher Primary School for over 90 minutes, but to no avail. She then left as her family was expecting her back.