Shyam Saran Negi

SHIMLA: The first voter of independent India, Shyam Saran Negi , is among 1,011 electors in Himachal Pradesh who are aged 100 and more. Now, to encourage youngsters to get out and vote on May 19, the state election commission (SEC) has decided to name all centurion electors of the state as role models.

Negi has never missed out on voting and will not this time either when the state votes on May 19. A resident of Kalpa town in Kinnaur , the retired schoolteacher cast the first vote in the first election in independent India, in 1951.

In all, the state has about 51 lakh voters. Of them, 44% are under the age of 40. But turnouts are typically low because of the tough terrain. While Haryana and Punjab registered turnouts of 71.5% and 70.6% in 2014, the hill state’s figure was 64.4%.

Of the 1,011 electors aged 100 or more in Himachal, nearly 30%, or 298, live in Kangra. Hamirpur follows, with 125 centurion voters. Mandi has 122 of them while Una has 103. The other districts with centurion voters are Bilaspur (85), Shimla (75), Chamba (73), Sirmaur (53), Solan (41), Kullu (25) and Kinnaur (6). Lahaul-Spiti, the state’s most remote district, has only five voters in the over-100 age bracket.

