Today's Times of India covers my RTI revelation on page 4. This was against Delhi State Election Commission. My earlier one was against Election Commission of India.
SC order on disabled voters not implemented NEW DELHI: There is no record of number of disabled voters and no information on complaints and action taken on violations of the apex court's order to provide facilities in polling booths for them, RTI replies from 35 assembly constituencies have revealed. Delhi will go to polls in four weeks and little seems to have been done for disabled voters. TOI reported how scores of disabled city electors faced hurdles casting their votes . "Since the same polling booths will be used in next month's election, it is of paramount importance to highlight the violations of the Supreme Court's 2007 judgement and failure of the chief electoral officer, Delhi, to protect the rights of those with disabilities," RTI activist Dr Satendra Singh, from University College of Medical Sciences, Delhi University, said. Through RTI plea, Singh, who is himself disabled, sought replies on 18 queries such as number of electors with disabilities, how many of them voted and their type of disability. A day after the Delhi assembly election, Singh wrote to the chief electoral officer of Delhi, marking copies to chief commissioner of disability and Delhi commissioner of disability, stating that many physically disabled voters were unable to exercise their franchise on December 4 because polling booths were inaccessible. Asked in an RTI query about details of complaints received pertaining to difficulties faced by electors with disabilities and action taken, the replies said no complaint or information was available. "What is the point of having email for grievance on website?" Singh said. Interestingly, six assembly constituencies replied "since a person with mental disability cannot be an elector, the question of voting does not arise". The reply of the returning officer from Burari constituency said "not allowed to vote". "In the eyes of law, every person (including mentally ill, mentally challenged, medically ill, hospitalized, and incarcerated) over the age of 18 years is fully competent to vote unless declared otherwise by a court of law. If someone's name is on the voters' list, they can vote irrespective of whether they suffer from a mental illness or not. The RTI reply reveals a myth among the masses," Singh said. -- Dr Satendra Singh, MD, FSS Assistant Professor of Physiology University College of Medical Sciences & GTB Hospital, Delhi, India-110095 Coordinator, Enabling Unit, EOC Founder, Infinite Ability Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
