Shyam Saran Negi was an Indian retired school teacher. He is known as the first and oldest voter of independent India. He died on 5 November 2022 in his village Kalpa, Himachal Pradesh; He was 105 years old.
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Wiki/Biography/Career
Shyam Saran Negi was born on 1 July 1917 (age 105 years at death) in Kalpa, Kinnaur district, Himachal Pradesh. His zodiac sign is Cancer.
Negi started his schooling at the age of 10. He studied in a public school in Kalpa till 5th standard and moved to Rampur to continue his further education. By the time he reached class 10th, he was 20 years old and he was not given admission in class 10th on the grounds that he was too old. After completing his schooling, Negi joined the forest department as a forest guard. He worked there for 6 years between 1940-1946. Shyam Saran later worked as a Junior Basic Teacher in the Lower Middle School of Kalpa and after serving in the education department for 23 years, he retired from his post in 1975.
Physical Appearance
Eye colour: black
Hair Color: Gray
Family
Shyam Saran belonged to a Hindu Rajput family.
parents and siblings
His father’s name was Narayan Das.
wife and children
Shyam Saran’s wife Heera Mani died in 2014 at the age of 78. He had 3 sons and 5 daughters. The name of his youngest son is Chandra Prakash Negi. Negi lost his eldest son in 2002.
Shyam Saran Negi with his wife
Controversy
In 2019, BJP worker Pushparaj had used the word Chowkidar in front of Shyam’s name. In response to which Negi filed a complaint with the Deputy Commissioner of Kinnaur, saying that he does not use any social media platform and does not allow anyone other than the Government of Himachal Pradesh and the Election Commission of India to use his name or photographs. Not authorized. Political interest.
Shyam Saran’s complaint letter to Kinnaur DC
Signature
Signature of Shyam Saran Negi
Death
On 5 November 2022, Shyam Saran Negi breathed his last in his native village Kalpa, Himachal Pradesh, where the Himachal Pradesh government performed his last rites with full state honours.
fact
- He loved listening to the radio.
Shyam Saran Negi listening to radio
- Negi followed a vegetarian diet.
- Negi lived at Kanang Saring in Kalpa, which is situated at an altitude of about 10,000 feet. The place is famous for the quality of its apples.
- Negi voted for the first time on 25 October 1951. The first elections were scheduled to be held in February 1952, but elections in Himachal Pradesh were scheduled 5 months earlier because bad weather and heavy snowfall was forecast in the area, which could cause trouble. Residents of Himachal Pradesh are reaching the polling stations. Shyam, who was a government teacher, was deputed for election duty in the first election. Negi requested the polling party to allow him to cast his vote and then proceed to the polling station where he was assigned duty. The officer approved his request and he became the first voter of independent India.
- When he cast his first vote in the Lok Sabha elections in 1951, he was 33 years old. On 19 May 2019, he voted for the 17th time in the general elections in Himachal Pradesh.
- He voted in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in the same school from where he retired after 23 years of service.
- Negi was just an ordinary voter until 2007, when the Election Commission discovered his identity as the first voter of independent India.
- In 2010, the then Chief Election Commissioner of India Naveen Chawla visited Shyam Saran’s village to honor him as a part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the Election Commission.
Shyam Saran Negi with CEC Naveen Chawla
- In 2014, a video was made by Google India in which Shyam Saran first told about his participation in the elections and also told the audience the importance of voting. The video received more views than other videos launched under the same campaign, which featured well-known faces like Arjun Rampal, Dia Mirza, Virender Sehwag and Amitabh Bachchan.
- In 2016, Negi made a special appearance in the film “Sanam Re” starring Yami Gautam, Pulkit Samrat and Urvashi Rautela.
- In the assembly elections held in Himachal Pradesh on 9 November 2017, Shyam Saran got a warm welcome at the voting booth. Pick up and drop arrangements were made for them by the Election Commission and a red carpet was also laid on their way to the voting booth.
- Negi was appointed as the brand ambassador of the Systematic Voter Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) campaign by the Election Commission of India.
- He had voted in almost every Lok Sabha election, Assembly election and Panchayat election.
- On 2 November 2022, he cast his vote during the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections, just three days before his death and it was the first time that he cast his vote through postal ballot instead of at a polling station due to his ill health.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn