CHENNAI/PUDUCHERRY: Scores of centenarians in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, most of them having voted in all parliamentary and assembly elections since Independence, began casting postal votes from their homes in the presence of poll officials from Wednesday.
100-year-old Anjalai Rayappan from Uppalam constituency in Puducherry town, who raised her 10 children by working as a house help after her husband died five decades ago, cast her vote on Thursday.Eight of her children have already passed away. Now, her two daughters take care of her.
Most centenarians rarely possess proof of their age. Election Commission staff take their word for it.
“We are not affiliated to any political party. But my mother has always been keen to vote. This is the second time she cast a postal vote. When she fell ill ahead of the 2021 assembly polls, we told officials at the Anganwadi in our locality about her frail condition and her keenness to vote. Officials helped her cast a postal vote from home for the 2021 assembly election for the first time,” her daughter Kaanikai Mary, 54, says.
Mary says her mother has always been secretive about who she votes for. “Poll officials sent everyone out when she cast her vote. She would have done the same if they did not send us out,” Mary says with a chuckle.
Ramakkal Chennappa Naidu, 101, from Kaveripattinam in Krishnagiri district does not have any qualms in openly proclaiming that she is an ardent fan of matinee idol and former TN CM, late MG Ramachandran, aka MGR, and is a hardcore supporter of AIADMK ever since the charismatic leader floated the party in 1972. She cast her postal vote Saturday.
Ramakkal’s granddaughter Dhanalakshmi Nandhan said the centenarian used to visit the polling booth to cast her vote until the age of 95, but began postal voting due to health issues.
In an unfortunate turn of events, S Angappan, 103, from Bharathidasan Nagar in the Perambalur assembly constituency in TN, who enrolled on March 19 to cast postal vote, died five days later, much before the start of the postal ballot on April 3.
100-year-old Anjalai Rayappan from Uppalam constituency in Puducherry town, who raised her 10 children by working as a house help after her husband died five decades ago, cast her vote on Thursday.Eight of her children have already passed away. Now, her two daughters take care of her.
Most centenarians rarely possess proof of their age. Election Commission staff take their word for it.
“We are not affiliated to any political party. But my mother has always been keen to vote. This is the second time she cast a postal vote. When she fell ill ahead of the 2021 assembly polls, we told officials at the Anganwadi in our locality about her frail condition and her keenness to vote. Officials helped her cast a postal vote from home for the 2021 assembly election for the first time,” her daughter Kaanikai Mary, 54, says.
Mary says her mother has always been secretive about who she votes for. “Poll officials sent everyone out when she cast her vote. She would have done the same if they did not send us out,” Mary says with a chuckle.
Ramakkal Chennappa Naidu, 101, from Kaveripattinam in Krishnagiri district does not have any qualms in openly proclaiming that she is an ardent fan of matinee idol and former TN CM, late MG Ramachandran, aka MGR, and is a hardcore supporter of AIADMK ever since the charismatic leader floated the party in 1972. She cast her postal vote Saturday.
Ramakkal’s granddaughter Dhanalakshmi Nandhan said the centenarian used to visit the polling booth to cast her vote until the age of 95, but began postal voting due to health issues.
In an unfortunate turn of events, S Angappan, 103, from Bharathidasan Nagar in the Perambalur assembly constituency in TN, who enrolled on March 19 to cast postal vote, died five days later, much before the start of the postal ballot on April 3.