During the 2015 assembly polls in Bihar, Sabah and Farah cast their votes on a single voter identity card
During the 2015 assembly polls in Bihar, Sabah and Farah, then 19, cast their votes on a single voter identity card. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the twin sisters-- joined at the head since birth-- have earned the right to be treated as separate individuals with independent voting rights.
Sabah and Farah, now 23 years old, will cast their votes on Sunday as per their respective choices; unlike the 2015 Bihar assembly polls when their names were inscribed on a single voter ID card and their vote was, consequently, treated as one.
The conjoined twins are enrolled in the electoral roll for Digha assembly segment under Patna Sahib Lok Sabha seat which goes to polls on May 19. Actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha, contesting on Congress ticket, is locked in a keen fight with Union Minister Ravishankar Prasad in Patna Sahib seat.
Their touching story was recently shared by the Election Commission of India on its official twitter handle with the hashtag #Chunavkikahaniyan.
"The twins cannot be denied their individuality on account of the way they are physically. They have different minds, different opinions and choices. Therefore, this time they have been issued separate voter ID cards and they will be allowed to cast their votes by turns," District Magistrate-Patna, Kumar Ravi told news agency Press Trust of India on Saturday.
He said the reason why they had been treated as a single voter could have been that it has to be secret ballot and no other individual is supposed to be present when one is casting his or her vote.
However, the twins are conjoined in such a way that their heads are turned, always, in opposite directions.
The conjoined twins have been told how to go about the polling exercise. Poll officials of the assigned booth have been directed to do the needful when they arrive, he said.
Born in a poor family, the conjoined girls were taken to AIIMS in New Delhi where attempts were made, unsuccessfully though, to separate them through surgery.
The conjoined twins are also die-hard fans and "Rakhi" sisters of Bollywood actor Salman Khan.