By a staff reporter
Dehradun, 19 Apr: In the backward Dailia village in Lal Kuan area of Nainital constituency, Gayatri Chandol, who tied the knot last night, cast her vote on Friday just before the “vidai” ceremony. She became the cynosure of all eyes in her bridal dress at a time when the villagers were casting their votes.
Accompanied by her groom, Ravi Shankar Tripathi, Chandol, who works in the IT city of Bengaluru, said she exercised her franchise because of the low voting percentage in the past. “The voting percentage should be 100 percent,” said Chandol in a red bridal dress. Her video immediately went viral.
After a slow start in the morning, the voting for the five Lok Sabha seats in Uttarakhand was low on Friday with the Election Commission saying 53.56 percent of the electorate had exercised their franchise by 5 p.m.
More than 83 lakh people in Uttarakhand are eligible to vote. Elections were held in the first of the seven-phased elections culminating on 1 June. The results will be declared on 4 June.
Chandol was not the only one to cast her vote immediately after her wedding in Uttarakhand. A couple of other newly brides also cast their votes along with their grooms.
Chief Electoral Officer Dr V B R C Purushotam also shared many pictures of the newlywed couples outside the polling booths in the state. Most of them looked very happy to participate in the dance of democracy.
In village Bakrora, Pauri district, Sonali also cast her vote at Ranakot school polling booth. She wore a mukut along with her husband and posed for photographs.
Maanas Lal, who has authored three books, also cast his vote in Dehradun along with his wife Geetanjali. Lal, who got married in December last, said, “I am feeling very privileged after casting my vote because this is the right we must exercise. We must choose candidates of our choice. Casting votes is the most important part of the democratic system.” Lal said two more books are in the pipeline which will be released shortly.
