First Vote: For mountaineer Poorna, candidate's work crucial than party name

Poorna has just returned after scaling the Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia, her second mountain expedition in Asia and the fifth around the world. Malavath Poorna, the youngest girl in the world to scale the Mount Everest at the age of 13, says she has three more expeditions to make, one to North America and the other to Antarctica and Australia before she completes scaling mountain ranges from all the seven continents.

Poorna, who turns 19 this year, is a second-year economics student and is also the ambassador to create awareness on the importance of voting in the district of Kamareddy. She is excited to cast her vote for the first time in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections scheduled to be held on April 11 and will be travelling to Pakala village in Nizamabad for the same.

Speaking to TNM, Poorna says that it’s the fundamental right of every citizen of this country and gives people the power to elect the most eligible candidate to represent their villages and constituencies.

“People at Pakala, the village I belong to, are all predominantly farmers. Both my father and mother are into agriculture. In rural areas like ours, it’s only through representatives that we can make our voices heard,” the 18-year-old says.

It was only last year that N Satyanarayana, the collector of Kamareddy district, appointed Poorna as the ambassador for creating voting awareness in the district. Since then, the 18-year-old has acted in a couple of ads to disseminate awareness on the importance of voting to the old and young alike.

“It was last year that I met Satyanarayana sir and I was appointed the ambassador to create voting awareness in Kamareddy district, where I completed my schooling and am pursuing my graduation. I was cast in a few ads after that, which mostly appeared in newspapers and other government media used for creating awareness,” Poorna explains.

On asked whether she is familiar with the candidates contesting elections from her district, the young girl is quick to reply in the affirmative. “I personally believe that we should vote for the candidate according to his credentials and not take into consideration which party he or she belongs to,” Poorna says.

Elaborating on this, she further adds, “We have candidates of all prominent parties contesting from our constituency. But I believe I must be voting for the person who takes into account the larger good of people, who is aware of the ethos of our villages and not vote for someone who belongs to a party which is simply liked by many. I would vote for someone who gives importance to education, will help the youth in the village to secure jobs and will also give ample importance to the farmers’ distress in the district.”