Democracy's daughters: Meet the 'oldest' voters from Assam, Sikkim

At 104, Lakhi Paul is giving a stiff competition to the youths in Assam. Paul, the oldest voter from Assam’s Charaideo district, turned up to cast her ballot in the first phase of polls on Thursday (April 11). Five constituencies – Tezpur, Kalibor, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur – are voting today in the state.

A day before, the Assam Police, while encouraging people to come out and vote, identified Lakhi Paul as the “oldest voter of India”.

The Assam Police also shared an image of Paul on its official Twitter handle saying, “In Assam’s Charaideo District, India’s oldest voter, aged 104 years, Lakhi Paul is all set to vote tomorrow.”

But the well-meaning cops were perhaps unaware that both Paul and Assam has a competitor in nearby Sikkim – 107-year-old Sumitra Rai, according to the Press Information Bureau.

Rai, who voted at Kamrang polling station under the Poklok Kamrang assembly constituency in Sikkim on Thursday, was felicitated by polling officials for her enthusiasm and sense of duty, upholding the spirit of democracy.