Shyam Saran Negi from Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur district is the first voter of India. At the age of 102, he is now gearing up to vote in Lok Sabha elections 2019. Due to being the first voter, media follows him everywhere during elections and he is a sort of VIP during these days.
Negi Received Recognition After 45 Years
Even though Shyam Saran Negi created history by being the first voter of independent India in 1951 in Kinnaur, for 45 years no one knew about it. It was after the Election Commission tracked down his identity in July 2017 that people came to know about Negi.
Now he has become a VIP who has voted in every assembly, Lok Sabha and panchayat elections. It was by the efforts of Manisha Nanda who was an Indian Administrative Service Officer in 2017 that people first came to know about Negi.
Nanda who is now the additional chief secretary at public works department tracked Negi from the photo electoral roll.
She said, “I had a lot of interest in Kinnaur since as I was aware that voting in the snow-bound area was held ahead of other places in the country, One fine day, I came across a photo electoral roll which had voters more than 90 years old. Negi’s age suddenly caught my attention and I asked election department officials to visit Negi, then 92-year-old.”
Voting Was First Held In Kinnaur Due To Harsh Weather Conditions
M Sudha Devi an IAS officer who was posted as Kinnaur deputy commissioner, later on, met Negi who was quite well known among village people at Kalpa. Negi laid out the details as for how he was the first voter of India and until now has never failed to cast his vote.
The election commission carried out the voting process in advance in Kinnaur district as the place is known for harsh winter and snowfall. The first general elections took place between 25th October 1951 to 21 Feb 1952.
Most of the Indians voted in February 1952. But voters from Himachal Pradesh were the first to get the chance to vote in October 1951 because more often primitive roads and mountainous terrains used to get blocked by heavy snowfall during the winter season in those days. It could have made reaching to polling stations difficult during February.
At that time Shyam Saran Negi worked as a teacher in government school.
According to Negi’s 53-year-old son, Chander Prakash, “My father had requested the polling party to allow him to cast his vote and then move to the polling station where he was assigned duty. The officer concerned acceded to his request and he became the country’s first voter.”
Negi’s Details Were Tracked After Lot Of Investigation
When Devi informed Nanda about Negi’s claims she searched for it in the records of the election office. According to Nanda, “We searched records and files for four months. The election commission also searched for records at its headquarters in New Delhi. My experience of tracing the first voter was like completing a Ph.D. on the subject.”
In 2012, the chief election commissioner of that time, Naveen Chawla reached Negi in Kalpa Village to talk to him. Google even made a video that featured Shyam Saran Negi in “Pledge to Vote Campaign” for 2014 elections.
It was the most appreciated and viewed videos among the others under the same campaign. The other videos featured celebrities like Arjun Rampal, Virender Sehwag, Diya Mirza, and Amitabh Bachchan.
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