The State Election department has set a target to bring 10 Lakh differently-abled (Divyang) voters to cast their votes, which were earlier ignored due to physical constraints. To accomplish this mission, the State Election Commission has planned a theme “Sugam Matdan” to make sure that the disabled voters get enough facilities.
Chief Electoral Officer Ashwini Bhagat held a meeting with leaders of recognized political parties at his office. According to Mr. Bhagat, there are currently 10 Lakh Divyangs living in the state out of which 5 Lakh have been registered as voters. The commission is aiming to register all the differently abled people so that they all can cast vote.
Source: Dailyhunt
Reportedly, in the previous elections, around 17,000 Divyangs had cast votes which was too less of a figure as compared to the total number of Divyangs in the state. This is when the Election Commission realized that the low turnover was due to the lack of facilities given to the differently abled voters.
Consequently, the Election department appealed to the political parties that they must make efforts to provide more facilities to the Divyang population so that they are motivated to participate in the voting procedure. Another meeting was held a few weeks earlier whereby Election Commissioner Sunil Arora visited Jaipur and held meetings with senior election authorities.
Mr. Arora directed the authorities to formulate a scheme so that more and more specially abled voters can be enrolled on the list and they can have access to the polling booths. He also directed Bhagat to run a campaign and prepare a database of specially-abled people so as to facilitate their enrolment in the voters’ list.
Complying with these directions, the state election department is fully prepared and is working upon the inclusion of such voters in the list, which is currently being complied under the second revision program. Reportedly, the final list will be released on September 27 in a circular issued to the Chief Electoral Officer.
