Candidate in-tears as close family members don't vote for him: Did he react too early?

New Delhi, May 24: Losing in elections can hurt, but what can hurt more is when you come to know that even your own family members have not voted for you. Although it is not possible to know who voted for whom as the EC norms strictly prescribe adhering to secret ballot, one cannot possible avoid noticing if the total number of votes polled are less than even the number of family members.

Getting into specifics, we are referring to Neetu Shuttern Wala who hails from Jalandhar. He contested polls as an independent and got just 5 votes. When media persons approached him, Wala broke down. Getting just 5 five votes can be quite disheartening, but what shattered Wala was the fact that he got 5 votes despite having 9 people in his own family, said reports.

In front of the camera, he was going through a mix of emotions, anger at family members on hand and sadness at their betrayal.

Reports have quoted him as saying that he has vowed never to con test elections again.

Wala is no doubt hurt, but imagine what activist Irom Sharmila would have gone through after the 2017 Manipur Assembly elections. Sharmila had fasted demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. (AFSPA) from Manipur for over a decade. She did not have any solid food for many years and only force feeding her through a canal in her nose kept her alive. She decided to end her 16-year fast in August 2016 and took a plunge into politics.

Sharmila was a human rights activist of repute and her struggle featured in many inter national magazines, but in elections she got just 90 votes. It broke her heart and she vowed never to contest elections again.

The candidate may have reacted early, as it now appears that he has got 856 votes.