In Maharashtra, the disabled account for 29,63,392 of the 11,23,74,333 population (2.64%) as per the 2011 census.
On a mission to ensure wider participation by people, the state government planning to make better physical infrastructure available for physically disabled at the booth level
This will cover ramps and vehicles for access to polling booths and voter slips in Braille. The authorities are marking out physically challenged voters on lists as part of this "accessible elections" agenda. This will enable booth-level officers direct amenities towards such voters based on the nature of their disability.
"One of the themes of these elections will be making them accessible for PwDs. The disabled will also be marked out on electoral rolls to help authorities provide necessary facilities for access. Studies are underway on measures to be taken," said a senior official from the state chief electoral officer's (CEO) office stating that they wanted to make the electoral process accessible for such people.
In Maharashtra, the disabled account for 29,63,392 of the 11,23,74,333 population (2.64%) as per the 2011 census.
So far, the state government has identified 2,24,162, PWDs in the voters list though the number is much less than that in the census. "This is because the self-identification of PwDs in our database is voluntary," the official explained. The voters list will be finalised by January end.
Another official added that now, the booth-level officers had no information about the number of PwDs who were enrolled at their centres. This prevented them from taking measures to improve access.
In July, the Election Commission of India (ECI) had organised a national-level consultation on accessible elections which resulted in a strategic framework being drawn up. The development of an in-house mobile app for PwDs was also announced and Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) with braille features for visually challenged voters were launched during the consultation.
"Apart from door-to-door surveys, we approached institutions and support groups of PwDs to mark out such voters and create awareness among them. These consultations will also generate ideas on measures to be taken for accessible elections," said the official.
Maharashtra had 8.7 crore electors, up from 8.44 crore in 2014. However, this number may change once the voters' rolls are finalised. The net addition to the rolls has been around 26 lakh after 10 lakh deletions and 36 lakh fresh additions.
Around 96 per cent of electoral rolls is photo rolls (voters lists which have photographs of voters) to prevent bogus voting. The state had around 95,000 polling booths in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and the number is likely to increase to 1.03 lakh in 2019.
According to the 2011 census, PwDs constitute 2.21per cent of the total population of India.
Nearly 50% of the disabled persons belonged to one of the five states namely Uttar Pradesh (15.5 per cent), Maharashtra (11.05 per cent), Bihar (8.69 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (8.45 per cent), and West Bengal (7.52 per cent).
A HELPING HAND
The state government planning to make better physical infrastructure available for physically disabled at booth level
This will include ramps and vehicles for access to polling booths and voter slips in Braille. The authorities are marking out physically challenged voters
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