Chiranjeevi

For trying to jump the queue inside a polling station to cast his vote

As he went to cast his vote for the constituency Khairatabad in Hyderabad’s Jubilee Hills area on 30 April, actor-turned politician Chiranjeevi, who is heading the Congress campaign in Andhra Pradesh, tried to jump the polling queue. He was stopped by a voter called Raja Kartik who had specially flown in from London to cast his vote.

Kartik has been quoted as asking the Telugu film superstar, “Do you need special treatment? You may be a Union minister, but you are not a senior citizen.” With no support from onlookers, the celebrity had to force a smile and walk back to the end of the queue while his embarrassed son, actor Ram Charan Teja, left the booth though he returned later to vote.

Chiranjeevi had to await his turn at the voting machine for about half an hour. In doing so, the superstar hopefully learnt one of the basic lessons of democracy—that all citizens are equal. The superstar he might have taken a cue from is Rajinikanth, who was among the first to arrive at a polling station in Chennai to cast his vote.

It has been reported though that a couple of voters had already arrived at the booth in Stella Maris College in Chennai by the time Rajinikanth dropped by around 7 am, and that one voter offered to let the superstar vote first.

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