According to the Election Commission's data, there are more than 3,000 voters who have completed a century in Mumbai City district
Dr Hiru Patel is looking forward to cast his vote. Pic /Datta Kumbhar
Apart from first-time voters who are excited to get inked on October 21, the list of voters includes Colaba resident Dr Hiru Patel, who turned 100 last month, and is also looking forward to cast a vote in the upcoming Assembly elections. Apart from Patel, the Election Commission's data indicates that there are more than 3,000 other voters who are above 100 years old in the Mumbai City district. The district covers 10 constituencies. Based on the data, Colaba has 620 such voters while Malabar Hill has 612. Dharavi has the lowest with 118 such voters. The Suburban District office, however, didn't have the equivalent data. Their data indicates that there are around 1.94 lakh voters who are above the age of 80 years.
Accompanied by his helper, Dr Patel votes regularly as he considers it to be his responsibility to vote for the deserving candidate. "The polling centre is close to my house. I have never faced any trouble. I go with my family and my helper," he said.
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Dr Patel, who was born in Ahmedabad and has been living in Mumbai for more than 60 years, is proud of his date of birth. "My mother chose quite a day to bring me into the world. I was born on 19-91-1919 (September 19-09-19)," he said. After completing his education at Imperial College in London, he came back to India in 1946 while the Independence struggle was underway. Reminiscing about his younger years, Dr Patel said that he had met Gandhi in Ahmedabad and felt that politicians back then made a good team.
Dr Patel says that he used to be a Congress voter for many years but he started voting for BJP after the party came to power. "Modi came up as a surprise leader. He may have his weak points and deficiencies but he is devoted to the job that he is doing and he has earned the respect of the international community," he said. In Colaba, Rahul Narwekar is contesting for BJP and Ashok Jagtap for Congress.
As far as his constituency is concerned, Dr Patel hopes that the future political representative will address the issue of garbage that the sea throws back during high tide. "During monsoon, there is a lot of waste that the sea throws back. We have to get our own maintenance agency to deal with it every week," he said.
612
No. of voters in Malabar Hill who are recorded as 100 years old
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