MP: Centenarian cynosure of all eyes at polling station

Bhopal, Nov 17 (PTI) A centenarian underlined his commitment to electoral democracy and was the cynosure of all eyes at a polling booth in Barwani in Madhya Pradesh where he cast his vote on Friday.

Nanaji Bhilji Ahira, whose age is 113 as per his voters' ID, rode pillion on his great grandson's motorcycle to reach the polling station and cast his vote.

He voted at around 10am in booth number 225 of Pansemal Assembly seat, Booth Level Officer (BLO) Shamsuddin Mansuri told PTI over phone.

'His age is 118. However, his voter card has his age as 113 and name as just Nana. He came riding pillion on his great grandson's motorcycle. He had told me earlier he would walk the 1.5 kilometre distance to the polling booth. He seemed to have some problem with his eye today,' Mansuri said.

Mansuri said when he had gone to his house to give him his voter slip, the centenarian had just returned from the market with a bag full of vegetables.

'As soon as he entered the house, he asked his grandson's wife to make a spicy dish. He walks and talks with ease. He told me he had cast his vote,' Mansuri added.

The centenarian's acquaintances said he lives in a 'kaccha ' house and may have cast his vote at least 100 times over the years in polls ranging from the panchayat level to Lok Sabha.

Even at this age he is very demanding and wants the the government to increase old age pension to Rs 2,000, they humorously pointed out.

According to an estimate, there are 5,253 voters above the age of 100 in MP, including 3,761 women. Sehore, the home district of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, leads the list, while the lowest number is in Sheopur, which incidentally is also infamous for malnourishment cases.

When contacted, the MP Chief Electoral Officer Anupam Ranjan said there are voters above the age of 116 but one could not say how many of them voted since figures of Friday's exercise were still coming in. PTI LAL BNM BNM