'Blame entirely on elders': Narayana Murthy on young people not voting

Narayana Murthy and Sudha Murty cast their votes in Bengaluru today (Image credit: Haripriya Suresh/Moneycontrol)

NR Narayana Murthy and Sudha Murty are regulars at a polling booth in south Bengaluru’s Jayanagar, visiting the centre during every election to cast their votes. On Wednesday morning too, the Infosys co-founder and philanthropist-author wife were among the early voters who cast their ballot in the Karnataka assembly election.

Sending a message to the younger generation on the importance of exercising their franchise, the Murthys urged cited their own example of how, if the elderly can visit polling stations, the youth too can certainly spare time to vote.

Narayana Murthy, 76, said the onus is on the elders to urge young people to vote. He cited the time from his youth when his parents ensured that he cast his vote.

“On the voting day, they would ensure that we simply did not go away without voting. They took us with them to the voting booth, they had made sure we were registered, they made sure that we voted. So I would lay the blame entirely on the elders,” Murthy told news agency ANI.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka, also voted in Bengaluru’s Jayanagar.

Many polling stations in Bengaluru saw brisk polling, with senior citizens leading from the front at some of them.

"First, we vote and then we can say this is good, this is not good but if we don't do that then we don't have the right to criticise," Narayana Murthy said.

Sudha Murty too had a similar message for young people. The 72-year-old philanthropist, who was recently conferred with the Padma Bhushan award, said, “Please look at us. We are oldies but we get up at 6 o'clock, come here and vote. Please learn from us. Voting is a sacred part of democracy.”