April 19, 2019
India witnessed a record turnout of 66% in the second phase of voting for 95
seats in the Lok Sabha elections. The numbers may be good for the disabled
community, the reactions were mixed, dominated largely by disappointment.
Many disabled voters said that the Election Commission’s many facilities
remained on paper. NewzHook has put together reactions from different cities
where voting was held.
Deepak Nathan, president of the 3 December
Movement, said there was complete mayhem in Chennai South due to
lack of proper information.
“We were being given incorrect information about booth accessibility. In
most places there are no ramps and the ones that existed were not complete
and inadequate”, said Nathan. “There was no wheelchair at the polling booth
that could have been used by disabled voters and no volunteers to help the
voters either”. Worse, he said, was that police personnel deputed at the
booths were misbehaving with disabled people.
The problem seems to be one of poor coordination between local disability
departments and EC authorities. The result was confusion and in some cases,
complete callousness as was the case with Rafiq Ahamed from
Tiruvarur who waited for hours at the polling booth for a wheelchair. He
finally had to crawl up the steps to cast his vote.
“I had registered on the PwD app and raised a request for a wheelchair and
still got no facilities at the polling booth”, he says. “I am disappointed
that the advancement in technology has failed this time as well to make the
elections accessible for people like me.“
Ahamed’s experience is not an isolated one with physically disabled voters in
many booths saying they had to crawl through the steps for want to assistance
and wheelchairs.
Almost 99.9% of the booths were inaccessible. Only some schools that
already had ramps were a little different. The police personnel gave a rude
response to voters with disabilities who were seeking help. The electronic
voting machines were also placed at a high level and people with
disabilities, including those with dwarfism, found it very difficult to
vote. The polling booth officers were not able to give out correct
information to voters and refused to make accommodations in case the
polling was on 1st floor. – Simmi Chandran, President, TamilNadu
Handicapped Federation Charitable Trust
Even in booths where posters were displayed claiming wheelchairs were
available, there were no wheelchairs or volunteers present.Visually impaired
voters too faced many issues. Raghu Kalyanaraman, who is
visually impaired said the Braille sheet he was given was in a poor shape.
“I was only given a Braille sheet when I asked for it, and that too was
hard to read as the staff had not handled it properly. The sheet should not
have been folded or pressed out but it seems that they had kept some heavy
objects on the sheets making them difficult to read. The polling booth
officers were also rude and impatient and did not want to give out clear
instructions to blind voters.”
There were issues with the pathway as well, he adds. “Overall nothing was
really any better than previous elections. It would be better if the EC would
do some research at the ground level to understand the realities as the socio
environmental hurdles still remain the same. “
Rajiv Rajan of the Ektha Foundation in
Chennai had some strong words too.
“If I have to give marks on scale of 10 I would not be giving more than 2.5.
In a lot of cases, including mine, the basic right secret ballot was denied.
The official sent my personal assistant away and passed a comment saying that
“People like him would break up the EVM and would create big problem for us”.
In total, it was only a number unkept promises.”
Among those who felt deeply disappointed was Swarnalatha J
of the Swarga Foundation, who took to social media to voice
her feelings.
“While you were thinking whom to vote, I was thinking how to vote! I’m not
the complaining type, but Election Commission of India (ECI) promised 100%
accessibility at all polling booths. They promised wheelchairs and volunteers
to assist people with disabilities and senior citizens. I found none. ECI
disappointed me. These ramps are a joke! I had to seek help from police on
duty to lift my wheelchair twice, once to get into the compound and second to
get into the building itself and return. Wonder if I could once in my
lifetime vote with dignity.”
Harsh words perhaps but the disappointment is understandable given the many
promises and commitments made to “Leave No Voter Behind”.
Source: https://newzhook.com/story/22023
