Delhi Election: Arrangements Make Voting Easier for the Elderly, Disabled

The pick up and drop facility and the extension of the postal ballot facility to cover such voters aimed at improving voter participation in the polls.

New Delhi: For the Delhi assembly elections this year the Election Commission went all out to facilitate voting by citizens over 80 years of age and persons with disabilities.

From registering them for postal ballot to providing them pick and drop facility and then extending a warm welcome to them at the polling stations, the election authorities made efforts to make the elections more inclusive and accessible.

With wheelchairs at polling stations and ramps becoming a norm now, a large number of elderly citizens and disabled people turned up to vote today. The election officials also regularly tweeted about the arrangements and the arrival of such voters to encourage others too to cast their vote.

Many centenarians

An encouraging aspect of the exercise undertaken to increase participation of elder voters was that many centenarians turned up at the polling stations.

The EC spokesperson Sheyphali Sharan tweeted how several elderly citizens were assisted by the polling staff in casting votes.

The Chief Electoral Officer also tweeted how a lady over 100 years of age turned out to vote in Burari.

The CEO Delhi office also tweeted how observers and election teams also felicitated centenarian voters by presenting them with bouquets.

Pick up and drop facility

A number of elderly citizens this time also availed themselves of the pick up and drop service provided by the Election Commission. The district election offices had arranged cars, auto rickshaws and e-rickshaws for the pick and drop service.

While as per the electoral rolls, there were 205,035 voters in Delhi who are over 80 years old and 55,823 persons with disabilities, only about 500 applied for the pick and drop scheme for senior citizens which was initially opened from January 25 to January 31.

Thereafter, in view of the poor response, the scheme was extended to February 5 and around 3,000 people registered under it.

Postal ballot scheme

The Election Commission had also announced the postal ballot facility for absentee voters, which included persons with disabilities and senior citizens. Until now applicable only for servicemen posted outside, the scheme was extended to cover disabled and senior citizens who due to health reasons found it difficult to reach the polling stations.

Under the scheme, a mobile team of volunteers was designated to reach such voters at their residence on receiving a request.

To avail oneself of the scheme, an ‘absentee’ voter was required to fill an application, along with Form 12D and submit it to the Delhi CEO between January 14 and January 19.

All decked up 

The Deputy Commissioner of South East Delhi tweeted a pictures of the pick up and drop facility introduced by the Election Commission for elderly voters and persons with disability.

She also tweeted how young student volunteers helped persons with disability cast their vote.

The Election Commission said for the convenience of visually impaired electors, Braille signage was provided on the balloting unit of the EVMs. On the right side of the unit, along the candidates’ vote button, digits 1 to 16 have been embossed in Braille signage for the guidance of such voters.

During this election, Braille voter slips, dummy ballot, voter identity cards and voter assistance guides were also provided.

Similarly, for the hearing impaired electors, 85 sign language interpreters and deaf experts were made available by the Association of Sign Language Interpreters and deployed at locations where such voters were listed.