March 22, 2019
With Lok Sabha elections 2019 fast approaching, government is doing
everything to ensure full participation of voters. Hence, people with all
kinds of disabilities are going to be provided with facilities to go to
polling booths and cast their votes. The Karnataka state government
and Election Commission of India (ECI) have promised that they will
clear all road blocks and ensure ensure maximum participation of disabled
people.
In Karnataka alone, there are over 4 lakh people with disabilities.
Reportedly, the state government has introduced 35,000 wheelchairs,
2213 sign language interpreters and at least 52,000 magnifying glasses
for the upcoming elections. Disabled people will also be provided with more
than 30,000 assistants who will reach out to them for all kinds
of help regarding polling. Also, all the booths will be at the ground
floor of buildings so that disabled people can easily access them.
Disability rights groups and people from the community points out that this
is a great step towards inclusion. But there are many questions that are
simultaneously raised.
Sunil Jain is the Founder of Aastha, an NGO
that reaches out for making elections in Karnataka accessible. Jain says that
ECI’s accessibility features, most of them, that were promised during last
year’s elections never happened. Hence, he has launched a Google
Accessibility Survey where people can check out on the accessibility
features of their nearby polling booths, answer to poll questions and update
them online. Jain hopes that this accessibility survey will be of great help
to disabled voters.
ECI has introduced a helpline number 1950 where disabled people can call
and talk about what all facilities they require at booths. According to
them, even transport facilities are provided. At Aastha, we are trying to
make more disabled voters aware about all this so that they can easily cast
their votes. ECI has promised that all polling booths will be made
accessible with Braille and ramps to name a few of the features. But we
will have to wait and see how well this is going to be implemented. We are
hoping to complete our accessibility survey before 31 March. At least 200
polling booths in South Bengaluru will be covered under the
survey-Sunil Jain, Founder, Aastha
Apart from all that, ECI has also promised separate polling
booths for disabled people. There are over 58,000 polling booths
across Karnataka. This is definitely not the first time that state
governments are promising accessibility features. Will the government and ECI
keep up their promises? Disabled voters are keen to know.
Shivprasad S is the Vice-Captain of Indian
Wheelchair Cricket Team. Shiv ensures that he casts is vote for
every election.
“Even when you are on a wheelchair, no officials come forward to ask for
help at polling booths. That is the kind of insensitivity towards disabled
voters. In fact, there is no clear assessment as in where exactly the
accessibility features must be introduced”, says Shiv.
Elections in the state will happen on 18 and 23 of April.
Results will be announced on 23 May.
ALSO READ: Awareness about accessible election facilities still an issue in
Arunachal Pradesh
Source: https://newzhook.com/story/21749
