PIONEER NEWS SERVICE/Dehrad
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), BVRC Purushottam stressed on providing special attention to the Assured Minimum Facility (AMF) for voters identified as Persons with Disabilities (PwD) by identifying them based on their polling booths. He said this while chairing a meeting of the State level steering committee on accessible voting held here on Thursday. Various points were discussed in detail during the meeting, which included members from the commissioner for disabled people, director of Social Welfare, director of Education, chief engineer of the Public Works department and others.
Purushottam highlighted that every effort must be made to ensure that all polling booths in the State meet the minimum facilities mandated by the Commission. He instructed the Social Welfare department to provide the Election department with updated lists every three months, based on the eligibility deadlines of January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1. This will ensure that 100 per cent of the disabled pensioners registered with the department are included in the PwD category on the voter list. He also stressed the need for special attention in the upcoming Special Summary Revision Programme (SSR).
Further, he asked that the District SVEEP PwD icons be identified at the district level and directed the National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Visual Disabilities (NIEPVD) to prepare Braille-based voter awareness materials.
Further, in the meeting, additional CEO Vijay Kumar Jogdande provided a detailed presentation on the State steering committee on accessible election. He informed that, following the commission’s instructions, three types of committees have been formed in the State since 2018, with regular meetings held at the state, district and assembly levels. He reported that the highest percentage of disabled individuals is found in the 30-39 age group in the State. The main goal of the Commission is to eliminate the shortcomings in facilities available to disabled voters at polling booths, such as ramps, wheelchairs, accessible toilets, drinking water, shade and seating facilities.
