Chennai: Differently-abled activists have cried foul over what they perceive as a lackadaisical approach to ensuring barrier free access at polling booths.
Though the Election Commission claims to have built ramps in all its polling stations thereby enabling access for the wheelchair-bound, differently-abled associations have slammed the body for its empty rhetoric.
“I have seen these ramps in some places which are nothing but temporary arrangements made out of a plank of wood,” said P. Simmachandran, general secretary, Federation of Tamil Nadu Physically Handicapped Welfare Associations.
“The Election Commission has for long made positive noises and given us verbal assurances, but so far very little has been seen in terms of implementation,” he added.
Activists argued that the hearing and visual impaired are often left on their own when it comes to exercising their franchise as there is very little guidance. Lack of Braille script on the ballot boxes makes it incredibly difficult for vision impaired voters, added Simmachandran.
Smitha Sadasivan of the Disability Rights Alliance, which has been working with the Election Commission since October 2015, said every meeting held with government officials gives the vibe of a sensitisation programme.
“The good thing is that the attitudes are slowly changing, but the fact is that it is still a mixed bag. Most officials do not think of ensuring barrier free access for the differently-abled as a mandate of the law but only as some sort of favour they are doing us,” she said.
“Some of the times, disabled rights activists are not invited to a meeting especially if the meeting venue is not accessible. Because it is easier to keep us out than inviting us over and then having to listen how inaccessible the buildings are,” she said.
When asked for a response, Chief Electoral Officer Rajesh Lakhoni told DC that the Election Commission has taken many affirmative steps to ensure participation of the differently-abled.
“We have done a door-to-door registration campaign and added close to 25,000 differently-abled voters. Special enrollment camps were conducted at their homes and we are also contemplating providing wheel chairs for the first time at urban polling stations,” said Lakhoni.
Over 3 lakh submit forms on single day
More than three lakh people across Tamil Nadu thronged the local municipal offices to submit their forms related to public elections on Saturday.
With the election commission winding up their last day-long special campaign several youngsters were seen submitting form 6 seeking inclusion of their names in to the voters roll. Over 30,000 forms were submitted seeking correction, deletion of names from voters roll, official sources said.
Public election officials have now stepped into election mode and arrangements for polling stations, voters roll, stocking of voting machines are also gaining momentum and all districts have been instructed to strengthen the election department and provide additional staff to speed up the poll works, said a district revenue officer in greater Chennai.
According to public election department sources, during the last two phase of camps, the public showed good response in all tier one and tier two districts. So far above six lakh forms have been received and are awaiting scrutiny by the district election officers.
The response from the youngsters seeking inclusion was highest in Chennai as usual followed by Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur, sources added.
Meanwhile, chief electoral officer Rajesh Lakhoni has sent circulars to all the district police asking about sensitive polling stations and also brief about security arrangements in place for booths that have witnessed poll violations in the past.
