Delhi Assembly election 2020: 111-year-old Kalitara Mandal casts her vote at Chittaranjan Park

Kalitara Mandal, a 1908 born Bengali speaking woman, who cast her vote at South Delhi Municipal Corporation Primary School at Chittaranjan Park in Greater Kailash Assembly constituency, was provided a special vehicle at her Chittaranjan Park residence to visit the polling booth.

Image courtesy: ANI

New Delhi: In Delhi Assembly election on Saturday (February 8), 111-year-old Bangladesh-born woman Kalitara Mandal exercised her franchise as the oldest voter. She along with her family cast her vote for the 70 Delhi Assembly election.

Kalitara Mandal, a 1908 born Bengali speaking woman, who cast her vote at South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) Primary School at Chittaranjan Park in Greater Kailash Assembly constituency, was provided a special vehicle at her Chittaranjan Park residence to visit the polling booth where a wheelchair was arranged for her.

Born in undivided India, Mandal has seen the subcontinent go through turbulent phases many times, including two partitions, and lived "twice as a refugee" in India along with her family before finding a home in the national capital, said an IANS report.

She was born in Barisal (now in Bangladesh) three years after the 1905 Bengal partition. The centenarian, who has seen and participated in nearly all elections in India, is the eldest of four generations of Mandals who live in Chittaranjan Park.

According to IANS report, as many as 132 centenarian voters -- 68 men and 64 women -- are eligible to exercise their franchise in the February 8 election and they will be treated as `VIPs` on polling day, officials said.

Bachchan Singh, 111, the oldest voter in the city in the 2019 elections who used to reside in Tilak Nagar, died last December.

Meanwhile, key politicians including External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal queued up outside polling booths to exercise their franchise.

Jaishankar cast his vote at NDMC School of Science and Humanities Education at Tuglak Cresent whereas Kejriwal along with his wife - Sunita Kejriwal, mother and son, a first-time voter, cast their votes at a booth in Civil Lines.

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, Manish Sisodia, Lt Governor Anil Baijal and Delhi parliamentarians including Manoj Tiwari, Vijay Goel, Parvesh Verma and Meenakshi Lekhi also voted.

The city is witnessing a triangular contest among the ruling AAP, the BJP and the Congress. In the last poll, the AAP had won 67 seats, the BJP 3. Congress didn`t open its account.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP is hoping to retain power for the second consecutive term, while the BJP is hopeful to gain a majority by cashing in on the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Congress, which was in power for 15 years at a stretch in Delhi under the leadership of former Chief Minister late Sheila Dixit till the party lost to AAP in 2015 polls, ia expecting a revival.

Notably, AAP is contesting on all 70 seats, while the BJP has fielded its candidates on 67 seats and left three seats for its allies -- two for JD-U and one for LJP. Congress, however, is contesting on 66 seats and has given four seats to its ally RJD.