AHMEDABAD:

, 51, was overjoyed when he voted for the first time, on Tuesday. He was the only person in the Ghatlodia booth who has cast his ballot in

as well as in India.

Meghwani belongs to a group of Hindus who migrated from Pakistan in the past couple of decades to embrace Indian citizenship. About 100 ex-Pakistan nationals voted for the first time in Ahmedabad.Though he migrated to India in 2001, Meghwani was granted citizenship after 18 years. Four members of his family voted with him. “I am fortunate that I got the chance to vote in India. This is a day I will remember all my life,” Meghwani said. “I used to live in Tharparkar district of Pakistan. I remember my last vote in Pakistan was cast when Benazir Bhutto was contesting.” He is now waiting for his three children to be enrolled as voters in India.

Nanakmal Chandwani, 56, and his wife Pushpaben, 51, of Sardarnagar had been voters in Pakistan in 2000s. They came to India in 2009 from Hyderabad in Pakistan’s Sindh. The couple became citizens in 2017 but could not enrol in time for the assembly election. They voted as Indians for the first time on Tuesday. “We are citizens of destiny that got us to vote in two different countries. Voting to elect PM of India is an emotional high,” Chandwani said.

Dr Rajkumar Jesrani’s story is similar. He belongs to Sardarnagar and voted for the first time in India on Tuesday after migrating in 2009. He was granted citizenship in 2017. He is among the 500-odd people who have relinquished Pakistani citizenship to become Indian.

All immigrants from Pakistan have not yet become voters. Bharat Kharwani, 40, and his wife Khemia, 37, are among them. They came from Karachi in 2009 and have settled in Vejalpur. They got Indian citizenship in June 2018, but their names do not reflect on the rolls because of an error in their applications.

“Nearly 150 people from Pakistan could not enrol for voting though they have been given Indian citizenship. There is a slight ache in our heart for not being able to exercise our franchise which we have won after a lot of turmoil,” Kharwani said. Dimple Varindani, 42, who arrived in India from Pakistan in 1990, helps such people through her NGO. She became a citizen in 2017 and was a first-time voter in this election. Her husband is Indian. “I am very happy I got a chance to vote,” she said.