Dwarf woman climbs chair to cast her vote in Odisha
May 20, 2024
Balangir (Odisha) [India], May 20 : A 47-year-old dwarf woman named Vinita Seth climbed a chair to cast her vote at a polling booth at Patnagarh in Balangir Lok Sabha constituency in Odisha on Monday.
Vinita appealed people to exercise their franchise.
"I am Vinita Seth, a resident of Patnagarh, feeling very much excited after casting my vote today here. And, I'm a 47-year-old woman, and my height is 1 foot and 6 inches," Vinita told ANI.
"I climbed on the chair to cast my vote at the polling booth. I am very happy and appeal to everyone to cast their vote," Seth further added.
Vinita Seth also showed the indelible ink mark finger after casting her vote.
The assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Odisha are taking place simultaneously under four phases from May 13 to June 1.
On Monday morning, voting began across 35 Assembly seats and 5 Lok Sabha constituencies in Odisha amid tight security and arrangements.
Odisha has recorded 21.07 per cent voter turnout till 11 am while the overall voter turnout remained 23.66 per cent till 11 am, the Election Commission (ECI) said on Monday.
In the last assembly elections in 2019, the BJD won 112 out of 146 seats. BJP won 23 seats and Congress got nine seats. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJD mopped up the lion's share of the electoral spoils, with the BJP and the Congress bringing up the rear.
The BJD won 12 seats, the BJP finished a close second at 8, and the Congress bagged just a lone seat.