The first voter of independent India, 104-year-old Shyam Saran Negi, cast his vote in the Mandi parliamentary bypoll at the model polling station of Kalpa in the Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh on Saturday.
Voting for the Mandi Lok Sabha seat and the three Assembly segments of Fatehpur, Arki and Jubbal-Kotkhai is underway in Himachal Pradesh.
The deputy commissioner of Kinnaur greeted Negi outside the polling station. A red carpet was laid by the district administration to welcome Negi, who first exercised his franchise in the 1951 general election. Traditional musical instruments were also played on the occasion.
Negi said everyone should vote for the development of the country and for electing a clean government.
A close electoral contest is expected in Mandi between Kargil war hero Brigadier Khushal Singh Thakur of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress candidate Pratibha Singh, the wife of late chief minister Virbhadra Singh.
