The election commission will welcome 999 centenarian voters in Himachal Pradesh with roses and other flowers at polling booths on the May 19, when the state goes to polls.

Out of about 53 lakh voters in Himachal Pradesh, 999 are more than 100-year-old. They include 377 male and 622 female voters. The highest number of centenarian voters — 293, including 111 males and 182 females — are in Kangra district. Lahaul Spiti district has only 5 such voters, including two males and three females, lowest in the state.

“Special facilities will be provided to voters who are more than 100-year-old at polling booths,” said chief election officer (CEO) Devesh Kumar.

The list of the centenarian voters also includes the name of 102 year-old Shyam Saran Negi of Kinnaur, who is said to be the first person to cast his vote in independent India on October 25, 1951.

Himachal Pradesh also has 5,775 voters with visual disability, 4,366 with hearing and speech impairment, 19,173 with locomotor disability and 8,538 with other disabilities.

The state has 53,30,154 electorate, including 27,24,111 male, 26,05,996 female and 47 third gender voters.

As many as 1,52,390 voters — 82,500 males, 69,880 females and 10 third genders — will exercise their franchise for the first time.

Of the 7,730 polling booths in the state,seven have been set up for the convenience of senior citizens and differently abled voters, the CEO said.

In Kangra district, two auxiliary polling stations — in an old age home at Dari in Dharamshala and at GHS, Bara Bhangal — had been set up for the convenience old residents, he said. Another such booth would function at an old age home at Key in Lahaul-Spiti district, he said.

Key Gompa, one of the biggest Buddhist monasteries, is situated 4166 metres above sea level in the Spiti valley.

Two auxiliary polling booths have been set up in Mandi district, and one each in Shimla and Solan districts, he added.

In Mandi, the auxiliary booths had been set up in ICSA building at Sundarnagar to facilitate differently-abled voters and at Balh Bhangrotu-I, Vridhashram Bhangotu, for the convenience of old age home inmates.

First Published: May 04, 2019 11:12 IST