Special arrangements for disabled at polling booths

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 25

The Election Commission, Chandigarh, has decided that persons with disabilities (PWDs) will be accorded utmost priority at polling stations in the city.

Chief Electoral Officer Ajoy Kumar Sinha today held a meeting with senior officers of the UT Administration and all stakeholders concerned to discuss the arrangements to be made for persons with disabilities during the Lok Sabha elections in the Chandigarh parliamentary constituency.

He directed the officers to ensure assured necessary basic facilities (AMF) at all polling stations for smooth conduct of elections in the city.

Booth-level officers have been directed to maintain/update the booth level data on electorate with disabilities. It was also urged to create maximum awareness among the persons with disabilities about the PWD mobile app.

Making the best use of information and communication technology, the Election Commission has introduced this mobile application for the benefit of voters, candidates and the election machinery. In order to facilitate persons with disabilities voters, a workshop will also held on March 28. During the workshop, BLOs along with experts of sign language and Braille will be trained to spread information among persons with disabilities.

In addition to this, awareness camps will be organised especially for persons with disabilities at various locations and door-to-door sensitisation will be done by booth-level officers.

Form 6 for enrolment in electoral roll has an optional field for giving information about disabilities. PWD electors who have given such information in Form 6 are flagged in the electoral database along with category of disability so that such electors can be provided necessary facilities at the polling station at the time of elections. It is pertinent to mention that such information of disability will not be reflected in electoral roll in any way.

During the meeting, the Chief Electoral Officer also shared transportation plans for persons with disabilities i.e. pick-and-drop facility on the day of the polling, selection of convenient polling booths, formation of separate queues, arrangement of wheelchairs and arranging basic facilities at the booths for persons with disabilities.

Meeting with bank representatives

Chandigarh: In order to increase the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation programme (SVEEP) in the city, the Election Commission has decided to involve banks also. A meeting was held on Monday under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner-cum-Additional Chief Electoral Officer Mandip Singh Brar with representatives from various banks. The meeting focused on ways to maximise voter awareness and participation. In order to improve participation of all sections of electorate, suggestions were made by all bank representatives to boost the awareness programme and motivate the voters. The Deputy Commissioner also suggested that special awareness camps can be organised to facilitate the bankers with complete information regarding the entire electoral process, particularly the usage of EVMs & VVPAT, thereby ensuring maximum citizen participation.

AAP’s campaigning in Sector 22 market

Chandigarh: The youth brigade of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led by Bikram Dhawan, son of AAP candidate Harmohan Dhawan, went for campaigning in the Sector 22 market on Monday. Bikram gave a patient hearing to the issues of shopkeepers. He also apprised them of Harmohan Dhawan’s vision for the City Beautiful. Bikram asked the shopkeepers to support the AAP in the city.