State level workshop in order to hold comfortable voting for the convenience of the disabled people, was organised at Noronha Academy of Administration, Bhopal. During the workshop, the Chief Electoral Officer VL Kantha Rao said that arrangements like queue jump, volunteers and transport had been made for 3.50 lakh disabled people during the last elections.
Full cooperation was also received from the voluntary organizations especially for the disabled people during the last elections and 61 percent voting from the disabled people could have become possible with the cooperation of all in the last Vidhan Sabha elections-2018. This voting percentage is much better than other states of the country, he added. We have to ensure better arrangements than the last elections in this Lok Sabha election. Efforts will be made to ensure 75 percent voting from the disabled people.
The Secretary of the Election Commission of India Anand Kumar Pathak mentioned that the best works were carried out in Madhya Pradesh during the Vidhan Sabha Election -2018. Directives of the commission were followed speedily and people besides NGOs and government officers and employees also participated to hold voting conveniently.
Pathak further stated that many times voters are not able to cast their votes at polling centers despite having strong desire to cast their votes, therefore the theme ‘Bharat ke Mahaparv Es Tyauhar Me Koi Bhi Matdata Na Chhoote’ has been decided for this Lok Sabha election. Disabled could use their voting rights, hence several arrangements along with voting material have been made by the commission. Programmes on radio, television, community radio and various means like facebook are being conducted to encourage disabled people to cast their votes. Apart from this, voter awareness publicity programmes will be conducted in about 10 trains in the country.
Sujeet Kumar Mishra, the Additional Secretary of the Election Commission of India gave information about the constitutional provisions and the 2016 Act. Mishra said that each vote is important and we have to ensure it is casted during the election. Every polling booth will be made approachable so that disabled people could exercise their voting rights conveniently. Moreover, humanitarian aspect should also be kept in mind too remove the difficulties faced by the disabled people in exercising their voting rights.
The Joint Chief Electoral Officer Abhijit Agrawal stated that new works have also to be carried out along with the same works done during the Vidhan Sabha elections so that disabled people in maximum numbers could exercise their voting right.
In the workshop, the Director Social Justice KG Tiwari, Deputy Chief Electoral Officer Sanjeev Jain, Anil Mudgal and Rohit Trivedi delivered lectures on expansion of facilities for convenient voting for disabled people, basic difficulties and Sugamya App.
District Coordinators appointed to ensure convenient voting for the disabled people and delegates of NGOs working at the district level for disabled took part in the workshop.