-----Original Message----- From: Mahesh Chandrasekar [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, April 24, 2009 7:36 AM To: CBR Forum: Admin Subject: Polling hurdles for disabled Dear Friends, Greetings - News from Phase II of the General Election 2009... Refer Deccan Herald - dated 24th Apr 2009. Regards Mahesh http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Apr242009/state20090423132065.asp Visually challenged faced problems while exercising their franchise Polling hurdles for disabled L Subramani,DH News Service,Bangalore: Polling day for the 20 visually challenged persons in Lakshmidevi Nagar (Vidhana Soudha Layout, close to Peenya) turned out to be a frustrating one due to the ignorance of the electoral officer here. Standing in the queue at booth No 141 here since polling opened in the morning, the visually challenged local folks demanded their right to cast their votes without any sighted assistance. But the polling officer rejected their demand and told them that the EVMs inside didn't have braille marking. Even as the disabled voters invoked the Supreme Court order of 2007 that guaranteed their right to vote alone, the officer remained unconvinced. Braille markings "We have been trained to vote individually and we know that EVMs with braille markings are available in Bellary and other small towns. We are surprised to learn that it is not installed in one of the urban constituencies (this locality belongs to Bangalore North Lok Sabha seat)," Sarojini, a visually challenged woman told Deccan Herald. Just when the voters were standing outside to raise their voice in protest, a photographer suggested to the poll officer to check the machines once again. To his embarrassment, he did find the EVM with braille marking. "Unfortunately, we have not been trained to spot this," the officer admitted. While NGOs in the locality made sure the visually challenged voters had a feel of the braille marks much before the election day, the seemed to have ignored its duty to instruct poll officers of the right of the persons with disability to vote individually. No ramps Voting at booth 187 in Ilyas Nagar, Banashankari, Manjula, a crutch user, found it hard to climb four steep steps to cast her vote. "I am disappointed to find that ramps are not in place even after the Supreme Court order clearly mentions they should be laid," Manjula told Deccan Herald. C Mahesh, a wheelchair user and a disability activist, who voted in booth 171 J P Nagar Phase 3, also said that ramps were absent in the booth. "Luckily, I had to just climb one step to cast my vote," he said. "But wheelchair-bound folks elsewhere are not so fortunate." Not advanced While P Subramani, who went to cast his vote at Chamarajpet, was unhappy that the voting mechanism was not technologically advanced for visually impaired. Subramani who works as the deputy director at Bureau of Indian Standards said, "Voice based voting, SMS polling or internet polling could be better options although it might have its own drawbacks. Technology-based polling must be accommodated so that physically disabled will be able to exercise their franchise without dependence on any individual."
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