114-yr-old casts vote 21st time
She was spotted by Deccan Chronicle at Karamadai panchayat union elementary school booth at Kanuvaipalayam village when she was walking slowly to cast her vote. All smiles, she posed for a photograph flashing her voter ID. Collector P. Umanath honoured her with a shawl for being the oldest voter in the district, a couple months ago.
In a trembling voice, she said, “To my memory, I have seen nearly 20 elections. Elections come and go, but nothing much has happened except for some welfare schemes.”
“In this old age, I am unable to get even government pension. My husband was a Congress sympathiser and I followed him till he was alive. I live in a hut on my farmland. Some of my neighbours constructed houses under the Kalaignar housing scheme. But I could not avail of it,” she said sadly.
However, the villagers offer her food. Using a stick, she walks to the shade of a banyan tree where she seeks alms from morning till evening. When asked which party she voted for, she retorted, “Athu sollakoodathu,” (can’t be told) which surprised even her fellow villagers.
Kanuvai-palayam DMK secretary T. Chinnasamy said till date nobody knows which party she votes for.
