Shyam Saran Negi casts his vote in Kinnaur.

Shyam Saran Negi, a 102-year-old voter who also participated in the the country's first general elections in 1951, voted today in a picturesque hamlet in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh where voting is being held in four parliamentary seats.

"I have never missed an opportunity to vote," Mr Negi told reporters in Kalpa, some 275 km from the state capital, Shimla.

A staunch believer in democracy, the 102-year-old never fails to cast his vote in any of the elections, be it Lok Sabha elections, assembly polls or the panchayat elections.

In 1951, Shyam Negi, a retired schoolteacher, was on an election duty and exercised his franchise in Chini constituency - later renamed Kinnaur.

At that time, polling in the snow-bound areas of the hill state was held ahead of other places in the country.

This time, he casts his vote for the 31st time. He has voted in 17 parliamentary elections and 14 assembly polls.

"In the 2007 Assembly polls, an election official got in touch with him for the first time and since then he is in limelight in every election," a state election official told IANS.