Community heroes rally support to voters and officials during elections

Serving voters with tea and snacks, handing out chilled water bottles to polling officials and electors and holding mobile phones while people went inside the polling booths to cast their votes, some good samaritans came to the rescue on election day in Delhi.

Ashok Randhawa, the president of Sarojini Nagar Market Traders' Association, was seen distributing chilled water bottles outside a polling booth in Nirman Bhawan.

"I will go to other polling booths in the New Delhi constituency as well. Before casting my vote, I will go to other booths too. I have arranged for 100 cartons of drinking water bottles and have given bulk orders for bread pakoras, mathris and tea so that I can serve everyone," he told PTI.

Randhawa said he does this for every election.

"My mother was a social worker and she is my inspiration. I am doing this out of my pocket," he said, as he also handed out water bottles to the media persons, who were covering the polls.

Rajendra Singh, a retired Delhi government employee, was spotted distributing lunch to the employees posted at the voting centre in Narela in the Northwest constituency.

"This is being done by my expenditure. I am known here as a social activist but we must provide help to these officers who are serving us and our country," he said.

Singh also offered food to the policemen deployed at the polling centre but they refused as they were already provided lunch from the police department.

A man was seen holding two dozen mobile phones in his hands outside the polling centre in Mangolpuri, which falls under the Northwest Delhi constituency.

The voters are not allowed to carry their cell phones inside the polling stations while casting their votes.

"Those who trust me, submit their mobile phones and I am happy to carry them. When we came in the morning to cast my vote, the policemen told me that the phone was not allowed. My family members handed over their phones to me. On seeing them, a few more people did the same and that is how it started. As of now, I have received more than 50 phones and returned them to their owners," he said.

There were 13,641 polling stations across Delhi.