113-year-old Gopi Maya, 111-year-old Bishnu Maya cast their votes

By Our Correspondents Tanahun/Ilam, May 14: Gopimaya Pokharel, a 113-year-old woman of Bhanu Municipality-5, Tanahun, cast her vote from Mahadevata Basic School ‘Ka’ voting centre in the local poll on Friday

Pokharel cast her vote with the help of her grandson, election officer Bishnu Prasad Neupane of the centre informed. 

Bharat Pokharel, grandson of Gopimaya, said he helped his grandmother vote as per her wish. He said she has a poor eyesight. Bharat said his grandmother came to cast vote to the candidate of her choice stating that a single vote had a high value in election.

Voting by Gopimaya visiting the poling centre has sent a positive message, election officer Neupane said.

During the election campaign, almost all candidates reached her home seeking blessing. According to her citizenship certificate, Gopimaya was born in 1966 BS. Gopimaya is healthy at the old age and she does not take any medicine, said her grandson. Likewise, 111-year-old Bishnu Maya Adhikari cast her vote in Ward No. 14 of Suryodaya Municipality, Ilam.

She cast her vote from the polling centre of Saraswati Secondary School, Laxmipur. According to the District Administration Office Ilam, Adhikari is the oldest voter in the district. 

Born on March 24, 1903, she had cast vote for eight times in her life. “It may be my last voting, the winners may work for the development of village,” Adhikari said after casting her vote on Friday.