TIMES IMPACT
Collector visits 85-year-old 1st time voter to show him how to vote
Shanmughasundaram.J@timesgroup.com
16.04.2019
Eighty-five-year-old Kanniyappan and his family were in for a surprise when a team of officials led by Tiruvannamalai district collector K S Kandasamy visited them at their small hut at Maruthadu village in Vandavasi taluk on Monday afternoon.
TOI had reported (Freed from bonded labour, this TN man will vote for 1st time in his life) on Saturday that the octogenarian, his daughter Karuppayi, in her 60s, and her two sons and daughtersin-law would vote for the first time in their life. Their problem was they did not know how to vote.
They were freed from bondage on September 22, 2017 from Veerambakkam in the district after being exploited in woodcutting and charcoal making units in remote villages in Kancheepuram and Tiruvannamalai for several decades. The only politicians they have heard of are MGR, M Karunanidhi and “Amma”.
“We reached their hut to educate them on the voting process. We took the EVM set and VVPAT to their house and explained to them how to vote,” Kandasamy told TOI. He, along with assistant returning office of Vandavasi assembly constituency A N Lavanya explained the whole process to each of the seven voters in the family.
The family members took turns to have a feel of the EVM. The officials spent little over an hour with the family. Kanniyappan searched for some known party symbols on the EVM. Since it was a model EVM, there was no political party symbol on the machine. “We explained to them that the symbols they search for would be there in the EVM machines at the polling booth,” Kandasamy said. “When asked why they had not voted all these years, they said they had no voter ID card and no one told them about voting. They said they had to do work to take care of kids. Hence, never bothered about voting,” said Kandasamy quoting Kanniyappan.
Volunteers of an NGO helped the family obtain ration card and EPIC (electors’ photo identity card) after producing their release certificate that was issued by the revenue department. “We received the voter ID two months ago but did not know about the voting procedure until the officials came home and taught us today,” said Rajendran, a family member.
Kanniyappan’s family is not alone. Kuppan and nine others from three families, who were rescued from bondage, are also going to vote for the first time. They are in Sitheri village in Kelur panchayat of Polur constituency. “We have directed the VAO concerned to reach those families and explain the process to them,” said the collector.
NEVER TOO LATE TO VOTE: Tiruvannamalai collector K S Kandasamy with Kanniyappan at Maruthadu village in Vandavasi
Collector visits 85-year-old 1st time voter to show him how to vote
Shanmughasundaram.J@timesgroup.com
16.04.2019
Eighty-five-year-old Kanniyappan and his family were in for a surprise when a team of officials led by Tiruvannamalai district collector K S Kandasamy visited them at their small hut at Maruthadu village in Vandavasi taluk on Monday afternoon.
TOI had reported (Freed from bonded labour, this TN man will vote for 1st time in his life) on Saturday that the octogenarian, his daughter Karuppayi, in her 60s, and her two sons and daughtersin-law would vote for the first time in their life. Their problem was they did not know how to vote.
They were freed from bondage on September 22, 2017 from Veerambakkam in the district after being exploited in woodcutting and charcoal making units in remote villages in Kancheepuram and Tiruvannamalai for several decades. The only politicians they have heard of are MGR, M Karunanidhi and “Amma”.
“We reached their hut to educate them on the voting process. We took the EVM set and VVPAT to their house and explained to them how to vote,” Kandasamy told TOI. He, along with assistant returning office of Vandavasi assembly constituency A N Lavanya explained the whole process to each of the seven voters in the family.
The family members took turns to have a feel of the EVM. The officials spent little over an hour with the family. Kanniyappan searched for some known party symbols on the EVM. Since it was a model EVM, there was no political party symbol on the machine. “We explained to them that the symbols they search for would be there in the EVM machines at the polling booth,” Kandasamy said. “When asked why they had not voted all these years, they said they had no voter ID card and no one told them about voting. They said they had to do work to take care of kids. Hence, never bothered about voting,” said Kandasamy quoting Kanniyappan.
Volunteers of an NGO helped the family obtain ration card and EPIC (electors’ photo identity card) after producing their release certificate that was issued by the revenue department. “We received the voter ID two months ago but did not know about the voting procedure until the officials came home and taught us today,” said Rajendran, a family member.
Kanniyappan’s family is not alone. Kuppan and nine others from three families, who were rescued from bondage, are also going to vote for the first time. They are in Sitheri village in Kelur panchayat of Polur constituency. “We have directed the VAO concerned to reach those families and explain the process to them,” said the collector.
NEVER TOO LATE TO VOTE: Tiruvannamalai collector K S Kandasamy with Kanniyappan at Maruthadu village in Vandavasi
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