Wearing a traditional Himachali cap, Mr Negi holds up his ink-stained finger to the camera.
In the fruit-laden Himachali district of Kinnaur, the local hero is not named Modi or Gandhi or Kejriwal.
White-haired and wrinkled, Shyam Saran Negi arrived at the polling booth today, one kilometer from his home in the hamlet of Kalpa, to the grandest of welcomes. Before he voted, he was presented with a shawl and a garland. With him was his wife Hira Mani, 87.
Wearing the traditional Himachali cap, Mr Negi held up his ink-stained finger to the camera. The mark on his index finger, signifying that he voted, is very familiar to Mr Negi. He is independent India's first ever voter, now 97.
Shyam Saran Negi's story has a touch of destiny, painted in the brush strokes of history. It is the story of how a little-known school teacher from a little-known village helped to mint a brand new India, 63 years ago.
In the October of 1951, the threat of a bitter winter and snowy roads allowed Himachal Pradesh to vote some months earlier than the rest of India in the fledgling country's first ever general election. The first Indian to cast his vote in the tehsil of Chini was Shyam Saran Negi, then 34.
Six decades later, Mr Negi hasn't forgotten the emotions that were evoked by that fateful day. "Mujhe aaj bhi who din yaad hain. Woh khushi, woh garv (I still remember that day. The joy, the pride)," he says in a video released by Google urging people to vote.
Mr Negi, a committed believer in the democracy he helped construct, has never missed an election since. Now bent by the years and clutching a walking stick, Shyam Saran Negi says neither snow nor rain has ever stopped him from casting his vote.
Today, Mr and Mrs Negi were among the earliest voters at the polling booth. Vote cast, Shyam Saran Negi proudly told reporters "This time again I have not missed an opportunity to cast my valuable vote."
Watch his inspirational story here:
Shyam Saran Negi votes in 2014: