When election officials visited the house of 105-year-old K. Marappa Gounder in Karupparayanpalayam near Coimbatore to hand out the consent form for postal voting, he refused.
On Tuesday, the centenarian walked to the Corporation Elementary School in Karupparayanpalayam, around 300 m from his house, and cast his vote.
According to Mr. Gounder, this has been the practice every election, and this did not change this time as well.
“He informed election officials that he wanted to cast his vote at the polling station,” said his son M. Soundararaj.
According to Mr. Gounder, a farmer, he has cast votes in every election since 1952.
He was born on June 1, 1916, and his birth details were recorded by his parents on a palm leaf engraving.
The seniormost voter at the polling station also got a special welcome — the presiding officer introduced him to staff on election duty. Some of them got blessings from the centenarian before he left the station. “Cast your votes for those who do good things for society,” Mr. Gounder told journalists, when asked what his message was to voters.
