Bihar Elections: Cancer Patient Brought On Stretcher, First-Time Voter Rides Buffalo To Booth

Patna: A cancer patient and a first-time voter riding a bullock were among 34 per cent of voters, who turned up to exercise their electoral franchise in Bihar by 1 pm on Monday.

Shubhadra Devi, a cancer patient surviving only on water for the last four days, was brought by her son Vijay Kumar on a stretcher to the local school at Chaugma village in Bihar’s Darbhanga. Her son said she wanted to cast her vote.

“My mother voted today while fulfilling her civic duty in the last moments of her life. She has been very ill for a long time and has been taking only a few drops of water for the last four days. When asked, she expressed her desire to vote,” he said.

Voters standing in a queue silently made way for the stretcher to enter the voting room.

While Shubhadra Devi did not want to miss her last chance to vote, an excited first-time voter arrived at a Ujiarpur polling booth in Bihar’s Samastipur district riding on a buffalo.

“I came to vote for the first time and I’m very excited,” the young man said. “I hope whoever wins will eradicate poverty in our village, give work to young people and fight against inflation,” he added.

The video of the incident posted by NDTV on its X handle shows the young voter dressed in a black shirt, gray pants and a green cloth wrapped around his head like a turban, arriving at a polling station on a buffalo that is wearing a similar headgear.

Voting in five Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, namely Begusarai, Ujiarpur, Samastipur, Munger and Darbhanga, will continue till 6 pm.