These people found support in a free ambulance service through an initiative by local NGO Yuva Kranti Sena and industry body Noida Apparel Export Cluster (NAEC).
Saroj Mittal, 76, who lives in Sector 19, has been undergoing therapy for her knees since the last five years post slipped disc injury.
Mittal and her family were worried regarding how she would cast her vote.
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“I cannot remember when I had not gone to vote. Voting is very important for every citizen. One should exercise their right to vote,” the bed-ridden woman told PTI. Her daughter-in-law Meenakshi said the free ambulance service initiative helped them. Mittal, who retired from the Uttar Pradesh Power Department in 2005, said that she was also very happy with arrangements at the polling centre at Marigold School. “The process is so much better now. I was worried that I may miss my voting opportunity. She recalled she has never missed voting in any election,” she said.
Nirmala Yadav, 72, is bed-ridden since her open heart surgery on March 26 but despite that she went to vote.
“I wanted to vote. I never miss it. I voted for my country,” Yadav told PTI at her home in Sector 19.
Her husband Jagjeevan Prasad Yadav, 75, said that he had gone to cast his vote and knew his wife was sad as she could not do so.
“While returning from the polling centre, I saw the free ambulance service and it came in handy. Soon I took my wife and she also voted in the election,” he said.
“It’s your choice to vote for whoever you like, but you must cast your vote,” he added.
Sadarpur village resident Maniram, 65, took a break from Prakash Hospital, where he was admitted for a nose surgery, to cast his vote.
He was among the patients, who availed the free ambulance service.
“Lok Sabha election or Vidhan Sabha election, I have never skipped voting. I’ll go to vote and will return to the hospital, I have taken permission from the doctors,” he told PTI.
Another patient in the hospital, Kamraj, 58, said he is going to vote with a fractured hand because of which he was hospitalised.
Kamraj was also helped by his wife Selva, 55, as the two boarded the ambulance and went to a polling centre in Sector 34, where they shifted from Delhi five years ago.
Noida Apparel Export Cluster chairman Lalit Thukral said the idea behind the free ambulance initiative was to encourage the citizens to cast their votes in large numbers.
“We helped around 60 patients from different hospitals, including the district hospital, and others bedridden at homes with conveyance for reaching polling centres for voting. We got several calls on our helpline numbers,” Yuva Kranti Sena president Avinash Singh said.
