Gujarat local body poll: 45 members of family turn up to cast vote

Vadodara: In a unique participation in the local bodies election, as many as 45 members of one family exercised their right to franchise during the panchayat polls at a village in the neighbouring Narmada district.

The 45 eligible voters of the 82-member Vasava family yesterday went out together in a procession to the polling booth at Rozghat village of Dediapada taluka in the tribal-dominated Narmada district of Gujarat.

"We family members followed the example of our late father Kathudiadada Vasava who never failed to exercise his right to franchise in any elections held in the country since Independence," 90-year-old Gimba Vasava, the eldest member of the family, told PTI over phone today.

Gimba's father Kathudiadada had at the age of 117 cast his vote during the Lok Sabha polls held last year. He died in November 2014.

"My late father Kathudiadada's vision had become poor, but he never missed out on voting in any election. Even at such an old age, he remembered going to Haripura village in Surat district with others on 51 bullockcarts to hear freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose," he said.

Narmada District Collector and Election Officer Sandip Kumar Sagale said, "We had made Kathudiadada the brand ambassador in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls to encourage voters to exercise their right to franchise."

"His family members have continued the tradition," Sagale said while appreciating the gesture of the Vasava family for turning up at the polling booth to cast their vote.

"Their actions make democracy stronger," he said.

"Over 20 centenarians registered as voters in Narmada district turned up to cast their votes for whom the administration made arrangements to make them comfortable at the polling booths," Sagale said.