The Centre on Friday renamed Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, to Sri Vijaya Puram. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the name Sri Vijaya Puram honours the “rich history and heroic people of Andaman and Nicobar islands”.

“It also reflects our commitment to break free from the colonial mindset and celebrate our heritage,” PM Modi posted on X.

Home Minister Amit Shah also took to his official X account and said, “While the earlier name had a colonial legacy, Sri Vijaya Puram symbolises the victory achieved in our freedom struggle and the A&N Islands’ unique role in the same. Andaman & Nicobar Islands have an unparalleled place in our freedom struggle and history. The island territory that once served as the naval base of the Chola Empire is today poised to be the critical base for our strategic and development aspirations.”

Port Blair was originally named after Captain Archibald Blair, a British colonial naval officer.

Five Points About Archibald Blair:

1) Captain Archibald Blair joined the Bombay Marine, the naval force of the British East India Company, as a lieutenant in 1771. His naval career was largely defined by his work surveying and exploring remote regions under British control, particularly the Andaman Islands, between December 1788 and April 1789.

2) Captain Blair’s findings were presented to the British governor-general on June 12, 1789, and his reports played a key role in the British decision to colonise the islands.

3) During his expedition, Archibald Blair discovered a natural harbour in the southern part of Great Andaman Island, which he initially named Port Cornwallis, in honour of Commodore William Cornwallis, Commander-in-Chief of the British-Indian Navy. This port was later renamed Port Blair in his honour.

4) Archibald Blair established the first British settlement on Chatham Island in 1789, where he oversaw the building of cottages and the clearing of forests. He recognised the strategic value of the harbour and ensured that it would serve as a key point for British operations in the area.

5) Despite his initial success, the settlement faced significant challenges, including disease and resistance from local tribes. The colony was eventually relocated to a new site, but this too ended in failure. Captain Blair returned to England in 1795. His work, however, laid the groundwork for the British presence in the Andaman Islands, which later became a penal colony in 1858, with the first prisoners being freedom fighters from the First War of Indian Independence.

New Delhi:

For the first time in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, seven members of the Shompen tribe, a particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTGs) of Great Nicobar Islands exercised their voting rights for the lone Lok Sabha seat in the union territory. Not only did they vote but also posed for selfies at polling station 411 named as ‘Shompen Hut’.

A historic moment unfolds as the Shompen tribe of Great Nicobar casts their votes for the first time in #GeneralElections2024. Every vote marks a milestone in their journey towards empowerment and representation.#ECI#LokSabhaElections2024#ECISVEEP#IVoteforSurepic.twitter.com/Dril7oHCy4

— Chief Electoral Officer, Andaman & Nicobar Islands (@AndamanCEO) April 19, 2024

Many newly married couples were among the early voters of the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls on Friday, with some reaching polling booths decked up in traditional attires soon after exchanging vows. 

In Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district, which falls in the Udhampur parliamentary constituency, the “vidaai” ceremony of a bride was delayed so that she could go and cast her vote.

“My fervent appeal to people is to vote for the development of the nation,” said Vishal Shanky as he waited outside a booth in Bhaderwah town for his wife Monica Sharma to return after voting.

Dheeraj Soni and Pooja Soni cast their vote in Rajasthan’s Sikar shortly after getting married, Aseem Mangotra and Vishali in Udhampur, and Devesh Thakur and Gangotri Thakur in Chhattisgarh’s Naraynapur.

** The old and the physically challenged were carried on stretchers and wheelchairs to polling booths — a facility being provided by the Election Commission to ensure they do not miss the opportunity to exercise their right.

Rejecting the home voting facility provided to senior citizens by the commission, a 95-year-old retired Navy official went to a polling booth in Jaipur to cast his vote on a wheelchair. “I have come here personally to ensure my vote is cast,” R N Singh said.

A 92-year-old retired professor Uday Singh came to vote in a wheelchair in Bihar’s Aurangabad.

** For the first time, people in 56 villages in Bastar in Chhattisgarh cast their vote in polling booth set up in their own villages.

** There were also reports of poll boycott by villagers in Nehuta in Bihar’s Aurangabad, Uralipatti in Tamil Nadu’s Dindigul, and Purana, Dahgala and Bakshpur in Uttar Pradesh over issues such as dearth of basic amenities and lack of developmental works and infrastructure.

** An SUV carrying an electronic voting machine (EVM) partially sank into a river after water level rose suddenly washing away a mechanised boat that was ferrying the vehicle in Assam’s Lakhimpur constituency.

** Residents of Jammu and Kashmir’s Dhadkahi, known as the “silent village” due to its large deaf and mute population voted with the hope of getting roads, water, education and healthcare facilities.

** In Madhya Pradesh’s Gotegaon, a son reached a polling station with his blind and disabled father on a tireless bicycle, in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur, a man was seen carrying an elderly woman to a polling booth, while in Udhampur’s Bhaderwah, an unwell elderly woman was brought to a polling station in a richly decorated palanquin.

** The world’s shortest woman, Jyoti Amge, cast her vote in Nagpur in Maharashtra and appealed to people to come out in large numbers and exercise their franchise in the elections.

** Putting aside their grief, 27 members of a joint family cast their votes in Nagpur in Maharashtra, a day after losing an elderly relative.

** An elderly voter in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar threw an electronic voting machine (EVM) on the ground, demanding voting take place through ballot paper.

** The Balud polling booth in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district sported the theme of environment conservation, while all-women staffed “pink” booths across the 102 constituencies that went to polls in the first phase saw women voters turning out to vote in large numbers.

** More than 200 people in Tiruvallur constituency of Tamil Nadu claimed their names were missing from the voters list. They belonged to Uthukkottai.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)