Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, wife to vote in Guwahati

Guwahati: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said he and his wife Gursharan Kaur will cast their votes for the parliamentary elections at a government school in this main city of Assam on Thursday.

"I would surely come and vote along with my wife," the Prime Minister told journalists during a visit to the city to address an election meeting.

The Prime Minister, elected to the Rajya Sabha from Assam, has a rented house close to the Dispur Government Higher Secondary School, which is a polling station.

The rented house belongs to former Assam chief minister Hiteswar Saikia's wife Hemoprova Saikia.

After Manmohan Singh announced his decision to vote, authorities are working overtime - making a pavement leading to the polling station, besides sprucing up the road to his rented accommodation.

"We have been asked to complete the work of making a pavement inside the school premises as the prime minister would be coming to cast his vote," a contractor engaged for the work said.

The Prime Minister did not exercise his franchise in the elections in the recent past.