Senior Citizens Turn Up Early to Cast Votes

Hyderabad: A noticeable number of senior citizens turned out early to cast their votes. Special facilities were arranged for elderly voters and persons with disabilities, including the provision of wheelchairs and a home-voting option for those unable to reach polling stations.

Out of 103 eligible senior and differently-abled voters, 93 voters used home-voting ahead of the main polling day. Vasundhara Devi, a senior citizen who was waiting in line to cast her vote in Shaikpet, said, “It is almost a tradition for me to wake up early and cast my vote. The staff offered me a wheelchair to take me in easily, but I refused and stood in line.”

“My colony has a lot of dust problems. The road is not laid well, and almost half of the road is a dirt road. People of the colony complained multiple times, but no one did anything. I hope they think about the development of our area”, she said.

In an interesting case, Murthi, a senior resident who moved from Chennai to Hyderabad in 2019, said his voter card had the correct updated address, but the electoral roll did not. “They changed it at the state level, not at the Central level. We’ve lived here five years and voted too, yet all this confusion,” he said.

He also criticised the roads. “They are half-made, not connected. It starts wide and gets narrow on the other end. These are not potholes, they are boreholes. Riding a bike hurts my back, and at night, you can’t even spot them. ” Living just a minute from the polling booth, Murthi said his senior citizen wife and other family members had to vote at another centre in Yousufguda.

Polling officers reported a smooth start and emphasised that the most vulnerable voters were being looked after. “Special arrangements are in place for senior citizens and physically disabled voters. Staff are ready with wheelchairs and walking apparatus to help voters,” an election official in Borabanda said.