Kalpa (Himachal Pradesh): Winter is setting in on Kalpa, a quaint Himalayan village nestled in the Kinner Kailash Range of the Himalayas.
Gian Singh Negi, a resident of this village will vote on November 14 for the Assembly elections.
But what makes this 85-year-old voter special is that he is among the first Indians to have been exercising his franchise in Kinnaur. He has been voting regularly since October 1951, when the country first went to polls.
“I am lucky to have seen democracy take shape in all these years. I had voted in 1951 and will vote again now,” he says.
Negi has been a witness to many changes – from the days when Kalpa was known as Chini Tehsil till it got rechristened after the 1962 war with China.
“This place was then known as Chini Tehsil. After the 1962 aggression the name was changed to Kalpa. We still call it Chini, though official records all show the area as Kalpa now,” says a villager from Kalpa, Shiv Dyal Negi.
You won't see the hustle and bustle of the polls here. Barring the district HQ in Kinnaur, in most places, there are just few posters and banners and people gather in the village square to have a quiet chat on local affairs.
As the district gears up for polls, the excitement is palpable in India’s cradle of democracy.
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