Bhubaneswar: The first phase of elections in Odisha saw a good turnout of the differently-abled population from the state. Although the Election Commission had assured adequate amenities for the community, many differently-abled voters faced hassles in casting their votes in the first phase.
Experts and voluntary organizations claim that the first phase of elections saw many lacunae which need to be fixed for the next phases of polling in Odisha. Sruti Mohapatra, a leading activist on the issue, said there were many hurdles that the differently-abled faced during the recent polling.
“We got many distress calls from the community. Many claimed that there were no priority queues for them. At many places the terrain was not good enough for a wheelchair user to reach upto the polling booth. Many visually impaired persons also found it difficult to vote. There were reports of shortage of sign interpretations,” said Mohapatra.
Asha Hans, another veteran expert from the Shanta Memorial and Rehabilitation Trust said, “The promises of accessible booths seemed to be partially rolled out as we heard from many districts reports about non-accessible booths. We need to understand that for elections we need to make polling booths barrier-free so that more people vote.”
Jitendra Biswal, another activist and actor said that compared to previous elections much has been done for the differently-abled but a lot of issues are yet to be looked into. “Before the elections, we met the Election Commission and placed pointed demands to ensure hassle-free voting for the differently-abled. While few were fulfilled, some are yet to be adressed. I have asked the state poll panel to consider providing more amenities at polling booths.”
A ground reality check by Orissa POST at several pooling booths in Odisha in the first phase of elections revealed that though wheelchairs were provided at several polling booths, rough terrain, lack of priority queues made voting tougher for the differently-abled in the state.
According to the 2011 Census, 1,244,402 people in Odisha have been living with some form of disability in different age groups.
