Gadchiroli: Fulamati Sarkar, an 111-year-old who is among one of the senior-most voters in the state and SVEEP icon of Gadchiroli, a tribal-dominated district in the farthest corner of Maharashtra, cast her vote on Wednesday amid a round of applause and cheers from first-time voters and students. Fulamati, from Govindpur village of Maoist-affected Mulchera tehsil in south Gadchiroli, leads the district's 221 voters, including 135 women, who are aged 100 and above.
Fulamati reached her booth, which is around 200 metres from her home, on a wheelchair to cast her vote for the Aheri assembly constituency. The Gadchiroli's wonder grandma, who was draped in a shawl and greeted with bouquets, was accompanied by polling officials and additional collector, Aheri, Vijay Bhakare. "It was a celebration of democracy," said Bhakare who ensured the students and first-time voters also interacted with Fulamati.
The centurion club gives a distinct identity to Gadchiroli district which has 8.21 lakh registered voters. While the remaining 220 voters are aged between 100 and 109 years, Fulamati is the only one in the 110-119 age bracket.
Gadchiroli district information officer Gajanan Jadhav said while most in the 100 years and above category likely opted for the home-voting facility, Fulamati Sarkar, who is a refugee from erstwhile East Pakistan, turned out to be the only one among the centurion club who decided to cast her her vote at the polling booth.
Bhakare stated Fulamati also left a message encouraging everyone to cast their vote. "The students and first-time voters wanted to know her feelings about voting at this advanced age. She gleefully accepted the attention she was getting and reciprocated by answering the queries in Bengali. She was the highlight of the voting in Gadchiroli," said Bhakare adding the district administration is grateful to the centurion club which once again helped Gadchiroli lead the polling percentage in the state.