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An upbeat Manu Bhaker reached a polling station in Haryana’s Jhajjar early on Saturday (October 5) morning to cast her vote for the first time during the ongoing assembly elections in the state. The 22-year-old Olympic medalist and Indian shooter shared her excitement and said it was the responsibility of the nation’s youth to contribute towards development. #WATCH | On casting her first vote, Olympic medalist Manu Bhaker says, “Being the youth of this country, it is our responsibility to cast our vote for the most favourable candidate.
Small steps lead to big goals...
I voted for the first time...
” https://t.co/806sYLcpoe pic.twitter.
com/vQ5j4m7fFB — ANI (@ANI) October 5, 2024 She shared how she accompanied her parents to polling stations as a child and aspired to cast her vote, too. She said, “Being the youth of this country, it is our responsibility to cast our vote for the most favourable candidate. Small steps lead to big goals.
I voted for the first time.” Bhaker has won two medals at the Olympics and World Championships, 19 at the World Cup, and four at the Asian Championships. She won gold at the Commonwealth and Asian Games and two bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Bhaker, thus, became the first Indian woman to win a shooting medal at the Olympics. She won another bronze, becoming the first Indian woman to win two Olympic medals. As Haryana began to vote on Saturday , of the 1,031 candidates contesting the polls, just 101 are women as against 930 men.
The state, which has over 47% women voters, has seen poor participation from the gender over the years. The 90-member Haryana assembly has 10 men in the fray this time on average for every woman in the fight, official data analysed by News18 shows..
