Shimla

105-year-old Shyam Saran Negi, the first voter of independent India who cast his 34th vote for the forthcoming Assembly polls three days ago in Kinnaur, passed away at his native place Kalpa in Himachal Pradesh on Saturday.

He will be cremated with full state honours, said Deputy Commissioner Abid Hussain Sadiq.

As per official records, he had also participated in the 1951-52 general elections, the country's first.

"I have never missed an opportunity to cast my vote since India got its independence in 1947 and I am happy to vote this time too," Negi had said in Kalpa, some 275 km from the state capital, after exercising his franchise on Wednesday.

Last year also, he cast his vote for the Mandi parliamentary bypolls.

In 1951, Negi, a retired school teacher, was on election duty and had exercised his franchise in Chini constituency, later renamed Kinnaur.

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Born in July 1917, Negi voted 16 times in Lok Sabha elections. He is also a state election icon since 2014.