Shyam Saran Negi (1 July 1917 – 5 November 2022) was an Indian school teacher in
Kalpa, Himachal Pradesh, who cast the first vote in the
1951 general election in India — the nation's first election since the end of the
British Rule
The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent,
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* lasting from 1858 to 1947.
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* It is also called Crown rule in India,
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* or dire ...
in 1947. Although most of the polling for that first election took place in February 1952, Himachal Pradesh went to the polls six months early because the weather there tends to be inclement in February and March and heavy snowfall during that period would have made it impossible for citizens to reach the polling stations.
[India's first voter in Himachal Pradesh]
by Gautam Dhmeer, in the ''Deccan Herald
''Deccan Herald'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published from the Indian state of Karnataka. It was founded by businessman K. N. Guruswamy and launched on 17 June 1948. It is published by The Printers Mysore, a privately hel ...
''; published 30 October 2012; retrieved 7 April 2014 Negi was a member of the polling team and vividly recalled that he cast his first vote in Shonthong polling station and his polling party had to trek long distances to conduct polling in Purvani – Ribba – Moarang – Nesong over a period of 10 days. Negi cast the first vote on 25 October 1951 in favour of the then
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
candidate for
Mandi seat,
Rajkumari Amrit Kaur. He voted in every general election since 1951 until his death, and is believed to have been India's oldest voter as well as its first.
[ Shyam Saran Negi also made a special appearance in a Hindi film '' Sanam Re''.
Negi died on 5 November 2022, at the age of 105, just three days after casting his 34th vote for the state assembly elections in favour of the BJP candidate Surat Negi. Following the news of his death, the Indian Government announced that Negi would be cremated with full state honours in Kalpa.
]
Honours
In 2010, the then Chief Election Commissioner of India
The Chief Election Commissioner of India (CEC) heads the Election Commission of India, a body constitutionally empowered to conduct free and fair elections. An election commissioner is appointed by the President of India on the recommendatio ...
, Navin Chawla, visited Negi's village to honour him as part of the Election Commission's diamond jubilee celebrations.Google
Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
India produced a public service announcement
A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. Oftentimes these messages feature unsettling imagery, ideas or behaviors that are des ...
in which Negi told of his participation in independent India's first election, and reminded viewers of the importance of voting.India's first voter beats Amitabh in virtual world
by Naresh K Thakur, in the ''Hindustan Times
''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...
''; published 26 March 2014; retrieved 7 April 2014
References
External links
#PledgeToVote with Mr. Shyam Negi at
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
Shyam saran negi : some insites
{{DEFAULTSORT:Negi, Shyam Saran
1917 births
2022 deaths
Indian men centenarians
People from Kinnaur district
Indian schoolteachers
20th-century Indian educators
Himachal Pradesh University alumni