JAIPUR: After his return from Pakistan where he was lodged in a jail for 36 years, Gajanand Sharma was happy to cast his vote along with his wife Makhani Devi. He re-lived the moment from 1980, when he had last cast his vote for the then Lok Sabha elections.Sharma was nothing less than a celebrity on Friday noon, when he arrived along with his wife Makhani Devi and elder son Mukesh Sharma at Sanskrit college situated near Brahm Puri area, but was not in a mood to speak, to the battery of mediapersons there.“Please don’t disturb me,” he said. However, coming out after casting his vote, he said, “Bahut kaam kiya hai, poster bhi chipkaatey they (I have done much work, had even pasted posters),” he added.Before getting into the vehicle ferrying him, his son Mukesh Sharma, said, “He gets irrigated all the time. But he was willing to cast his vote. Thankfully, his name could be added to the voters’ list after he was released from the Pakistani jail and reached Jaipur on August 16,” said Mukesh.He went missing in 1982 and the last time he voted was in 1980 for the then Lok Sabha polls. “We were so disturbed after he went missing. We did not vote since then. Not even in the 2013 assembly polls and 2014 Lok Sabha elections. I am happy to join my husband for voting after 1980, at a polling station situated at Beawar in Ajmer ,” Makhani Devi said.However, Gajanand recalled, “I have witnessed voting slips and we were supposed to paste a stamp on the name and the symbol of the candidate we were voting for. For the first time, I have seen an electronic voting machine (EVM),” he said.“Jahan Patni ne kaha, wahan button daba diya (Wherever my wife indicated, I pressed the button),” said Gajanand, who is unable to walk properly and accompanied his wife to the polling booth and the arena where the EVMs were placed.Sharma went missing in 1982 and only this year, through various police verifications, the family came to know he was lodged at Koth Lakhpat jail in Pakistan. Thereafter, the local NGOs, political parties and others indulged in pursuing his return, to an extent that he was finally released from the Pakistani jail and crossed over to India via Wagah border.

Stay updated with all the Latest Ajmer headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.