Chhattisgarh Assembly polls: 93-year-old to vote for first time in Kanker

The name of Sher Singh Hedko (93), a resident of village Bhainsakanhar (K) under Bhanupratappur assembly constituency, has been added to the voter's list during a door-a-door campaign

A 93-year-old man in Naxal-hit Kanker district of Chhattisgarh will vote for the first time in his life during the upcoming Assembly elections scheduled this year.

The name of Sher Singh Hedko, 93, a resident of village Bhainsakanhar (K) under Bhanupratappur assembly constituency, has been added to the voter's list during a door-to-door campaign launched under the leadership of District Collector Priyanka Shukla.

As part of the initiative, Booth Level Officer (BLO) Rajendra Kosma went to enrol the name of Hedko's grandchild and learned that the name of the nonagenarian had also not been added to the list. Following this, Hedko's formalities were completed.

Kanker District Collector Priyanka Shukla said, "This is a remarkable achievement of our BLOs that they approached those who were left out in the voters' list for certain reasons by visiting people at their doorsteps and ensuring the addition of their names. By acting proactively, the BLOs added names of people by helping them arrange required documents and during this exercise, the name of Sher Singh Hedko was also added."

She added that names of several senior citizens in the Antagarh and Bhanupratappur blocks were also added, and the credit for this goes to BLOs, EROs (Electoral Registration Officers) and the team of SVEEP (Systematic Voter's Education and Electoral Participation).

Under the voter awareness campaign, BLOs in Chhattisgarh are undertaking door-to-door campaigns to register names of eligible persons left out in the voters' list across the state.