My father voted free and fair this time!

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By Deben Bachaspatimayum

I like to express my happiness over my father exercising his universal adult franchise in voting for the 16th Lok Sabha Election according to his own choice free and fair, the first time.

My father, Bhubaneswar Sharma, aged at 98+ years, reads Newspaper from first page to the last for about an hour every morning. Over the last many years since he stopped working out of house due to age, he has always been picked up, paid, bowed at his feet, and pastered at the time of election for voting against his free will. But this time, I decided to give him a chance to exercise his voting right according to his free will this 16th Lok Sabha Election 2014.

Early in the morning on 17th April 2014, before anybody could drop in our house to pick him up I asked him if he wanted to go for casting his vote. He said straight. ‘No.’  Then I told him there is a NO button also this time if he could go with me. He agreed without any argument. Soon, my wife and I drove him to the polling station at 7.15 am. Without much waiting, after following all the necessary procedures, when I stood him in front of the EVM, he asked, “Where is MPP in the list?” I said, ‘No MPP this time.’ Then, he asked me to read out the list which I did obediently for him and then allowed him to decide for himself. Without much thought, he pushed one button on the machine and a long ping cried. I decided not to know which button he pushed according to his free will. Taking the next turn I also voted on my own accord. We came home happily after exercising and enjoying free and fair selection of candidate and party, this time!

On the way back home, my wife disclosed her party /candidate she voted. I expressed my surprise how she changed her mind from one candidate to the other at the last hour. She has been disclosing to me, as husband and wife, who she was voting for this time but I kept my secret to her dislikes. Then, she wanted to know who I voted but I told her, “It is against the law to disclose who I voted” even after the election. She got a bit bemused and insisted no further to my comforts. Our life goes on in the family.    

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