Early morning today, he fulfilled his dream as he walked out of a polling booth in Dinhata constituency of Cooch Behar district along with voters from three generations of his family.
He is the eldest among 9,776 voters in the erstwhile Indo-Bangladesh border enclaves (Chitmahal) who were eligible to vote for the first time today since Independence after a formal inclusion into the Indian territory last year.
Beaming with pride, Ali happily posed for cameras while flashing the ink mark on his index finger.
Accompanying him was his 24-year-old grandson Jaynal Abedin who said his grandfather was very excited ever since he got his voter identity card.
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Ali has two sons, five daughters and a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
"Since nobody from our family or our neighbourhood had ever voted, we didn't knew how to cast vote. But we got help from polling officials who explained us everything," Abedin said.
The Election Commission had made special arrangements and awareness programs for the first-time voters.
Diptiman Sengupta of the new body Nagarik Adhikar Samanway Raksha Committee told PTI that they voted independently and without any fear.
He estimates that around 20 per cent of the first-time voters in the enclaves were aged above 60.
"All were excited, happy and proud to be part of the electoral process," Sengupta said.
The enclave voters are spread across five constituencies of Dinhata, Mekhliganj, Sitai, Sitalkuchi and Tufanganj.