Beena Nair is in her late 60s. A resident of Kavundampalayam, she makes daily trips to the temple and to her doctor. She underwent a knee surgery a couple of months ago and doctor has advised her complete rest. However, a determined Beena was adamant that she will cast her vote. And, she did. Her son Ranjiit accompanied her to the polling booth.

“My health condition is bad. This could be the last time that I’m voting. So I decided that I will vote. I’ll go to the temple in the evening today if I’m able to,” Beena says.

Also wondering if this is the last time that he is exercising his right to vote is 68-year-old Gulab Radhe S. “We are originally from Madhya Pradesh. My daughter lives there, and I stay with my son who runs his business here in Coimbatore. My son plans to send me back to our hometown. I know that this is the last time I’m casting my vote,” Gulab says. His son Susheel shares that this is the third assembly elections that his father has participated in Coimbatore.

We visited a polling booth in Sai Baba Colony in the city, post lunch. We asked one of the officials on duty about the number of senior citizens visiting the booth to cast their vote. “This time the number of senior citizens who have come to cast their vote is the same as it was during the last assembly elections. One in every 25 persons is a senior citizen. Unlike the others, they (senior citizens) are sure of whom they are going to vote for,” Manoj Kumar, M. says. He also adds that they are mostly accompanied by their family members. While some are wheelchair bound, others are not. However, special instructions about how to use the voting machine are given to the senior citizens before they cast their votes.

We also visited the polling booth in R.S. Puram and we realized that it too was senior-citizen friendly. Vehicles are strictly not allowed inside the polling booth. An auto rickshaw enters the school premises and an elderly woman gets out. She is helped by the compassionate auto driver and the volunteers. “I’m Rajathi Ammal. I lost my husband only few months ago. When he (my husband) was alive, he would say that this time we have to vote for Amma. I have come here to fulfill his wishes,” she says.