Raipur, 20 October 2023
During the Assembly Elections-2023 in Chhattisgarh, assured minimum facilities will be provided at every polling station for disabled, elderly and handicapped voters.
Chief Electoral Officer Mrs. Reena Baba Saheb Kangale said that the Election Commission of India has issued clear guidelines regarding ensuring availability of necessary facilities in polling stations to disabled, elderly and handicapped voters, which is being ensured to be followed completely. . He said that availability of adequate number of wheel chairs for handicapped, elderly and handicapped voters will be ensured in every polling station. Along with this, instructions have been given to ensure that every polling station is kept in the ground floor, keeping in mind the disabled and elderly voters. He said that there should be a road in good condition to reach the polling station building. Ensured minimum facilities like drinking water, waiting shed as well as toilets suitable for disabled voters, adequate lighting arrangements in polling stations, permanent ramp of suitable slope for disabled voters and polling booth should be constructed as per the prescribed standards.
The Chief Electoral Officer said that the District Election Officers have also been directed to appoint NSS, NCC, Scout Guide volunteers to assist the disabled and senior citizen voters on the polling day and to seek their cooperation in the polling stations. Disabled voters (PwD) and senior citizen voters above 80 years of age who come to vote at the polling station should be given priority for voting by exempting them from queues. Training is being given to polling personnel to make them sensitive and aware regarding the special needs of disabled voters in the polling booth.
As per the instructions of the Election Commission of India, on demand on the polling date, free transport facility will also be provided to the disabled and senior citizen voters above 80 years of age to bring them from their homes and drop them back to their homes after voting. A visually impaired person is allowed to take one companion along with him to the polling booth. For the convenience of visually impaired voters, there are also instructions to keep dummy ballot papers printed in Braille script at the polling stations, which is to be made available to the concerned voter on demand. For the convenience of visually impaired voters, names of candidates should be printed in Braille script on the EVM machine. Signage should be pasted to inform the disabled voters about the status of the voter assistance booth to be established at the polling station. In case of disabled and senior voters above 80 years of age, willing absentee voters give their option through Form-12D, they should be provided the facility of voting from home through postal ballot. The Election Commission of India has given instructions to promote the Saksham app for the convenience of disabled voters. The Commission has also given instructions to appoint monitoring officers in the district to ensure complete compliance with these guidelines.
