On Friday, when Tamil Nadu went to the polls, many celebrities, including actors, sportspersons, classical singers, and dancers, exercised their franchise, driving home the message of importance of voting.
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The city witnessed an array of famous personalities heading to the poll stations to cast their votes on Friday. Actor Rajinikanth was all smiles as he walked into polling station at Stella Maris College and posed with his indelible ink-stained finger after exercising his franchise. Urging voters to participate in the electoral process, he said, “There is dignity and respect in saying that we have cast our votes. It is the duty and right of people.”
Actor Karthik and son Gautam Karthik too cast their votes at the same polling booth in the city. Several other film personalities, including actors Vijay, Ajith Kumar, Suriya, Karthi, Sivakumar, Prabhu, Trisha, Khushbu Sundar, Sundar C., Arvind Swamy, Vikram, Sivakarthikeyan, Vijay Sethupathi, Ashok Selvan, Sneha, and Prasanna, too exercised their franchise in different parts of the city and took selfies with other voters.
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Many of them took to social media after to show their inked fingers and inspire other citizens to exercise their voting rights. Some of them, such as actor Sivakarthikeyan, also wished first-time voters and asked them to make an independent decision.
It was more of a simple, hassle-free experience for music composer James Vasanthan, who cast his vote at Palavakkam. “I consciously stood near the electronic voting machine this time to verify my vote after several posts were shared on social media,” he said.
Music Director Ilaiyaraaja after casting his vote on Friday. | Photo Credit: R. RAGU
Classical artistes, sportspersons, and educationists were among other personalities who enthusiastically stepped out to register their votes. While table-tennis player Sharath Kamal voted in Nungambakkam and even posed for a selfie with his daughter, Preetha Reddy, Executive Vice-Chairperson of Apollo Hospitals Group and her husband Vijaykumar Reddy cast their votes at Good Shepherd School, Nungambakkam.
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Bharatanatyam danseuse Urmila Satyanarayanan registered her vote and took the customary picture outside the polling booth in Kilpauk.
Eighty-one-year-old percussionist T.H. Vikku Vinayakram was accompanied by his grandson Swaminathan Selva Ganesh and morsing artiste A. Ganesan to the polling station at the Hindu Senior Secondary School, Triplicane. Mr. Vinayakram who continues to perform in concerts, regarded voting as an important responsibility. He did not forget to click a photograph at the selfie point in the polling station.
Grammy awardee and percussionist Selva Ganesh also cast his vote at the same polling station.
MNM president Kamal Haasan after casting his vote for the Lok Sabha election. | Photo Credit: R. RAGU
Veteran Bharatanatyam dancers V.P. Dhananjayan and Shanta Dhananjayan were determined to travel from Muttukadu to Damodarapuram, Adyar, to cast their votes.
Mr. Dhananjayan, who recently turned 85, said he was a staunch nationalist who had not missed voting even once so far. “I decided to travel for an hour to reach the polling station. This time, it was well organised, and we were able to finish voting in a few minutes,” he added.