Centenarians, youth, women celebrate democracy, brave heat to vote in Haryana

From centenarians to youngsters, from cricket stars to the general public, people queued up outside polling centres braving the summer heat to vote for the 10 Lok Sabha constituencies in Haryana on Sunday.

In Ambala constituency, a man cast his vote before solemnising his marriage.

Voters whose birthday falls on May 12 were made "voting ambassadors" at some polling stations, officials said. Some of them made their birthday memorable by clicking selfies after casting their vote.

A large number of women came out of their homes to vote at tastefully decorated Sakhi Matdan Kendras, run exclusively by women in each assembly segment.

Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli exercised his franchise in Gurgaon. Among early voters, he posted a picture on Twitter which showed his finger inked.

At the polling booth, wearing a T-shirt, Kohli waited in a queue for his turn, as a few people walked up to him and shook his hands.

"Voting is your right and responsibility towards nation building. Go vote," he tweeted.

Suraj Kaur, 104, cast her vote in Dhani Akbarbur village in Bhiwani-Mahendergarh parliamentary constituency. Accompanied by her relatives, she was assisted by poll officials when she visited the polling booth.

Som Dutt, 98, exercised his franchise at a booth in Yamunanagar.

The 92-year-old Shanti Devi reached her polling booth on a wheelchair in Ambala city.

A foreign delegation visited a polling station in Gurgaon to see and understand the world's largest democratic exercise in progress, officials said.

The polling is scheduled to continue till 6 pm.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar voting during the initial hours of voting in Karnal while former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda of the Congress, contesting from Sonipat, cast his vote in Kiloi in Rohtak district.

State Congress chief Ashok Tanwar exercised his franchise in Sirsa.

JJP candidate and sitting MP from Hisar Dushyant Chautala voted in Sirsa.

Over 1.80 crore people are eligible to vote in the state.

Of them, 97,16,516 are male, 83,40,173 female and 207 transgenders.

As many as three lakh electors are in the age group of 18-19 years, 38.96 lakh in the age group of 20-29, 44.38 lakh voters are aged between 30 and 39, and 4.27 lakh people are aged above 80, officials said.

Altogether, 223 candidates are in the fray. Only 11 of them are women.

Union ministers Rao Inderjit Singh (Gurgaon) and Krishan Pal Gurjar (Faridabada) are also in the fray.

-PTI