Chennai: Though over 13,000 wheelchairs were kept ready to help the differently-abled and senior citizens to cast their votes, lapses in certain booths made polling a painful exercise for them.
These voters were glad to find better measures and ramps at poll venues, but hassles and lack of sensitivity on the part of booth officials put many of them off.
When Shanthi took her son, Adheeshwaran, who has low vision coupled with cerebral palsy, to vote, she was appalled at the way her son was treated at poll booth 151 (AV) in Anna University.
“The EVM was out of his reach. Because of lack of lighting in the room and his vision problem, he did not sign properly. They started shouting as he was taking time. The incident affected him. He wasn’t happy to vote,”
she said.
When our reporter asked the booth official about the incident, she apologised and said they will improve the facilities after taking this as a lesson. At the same location, there was only one corporation volunteer who was sitting outside while other individuals helped the physically challenged and aged citizens move in and out of polling booth.
“We have one wheelchair for every booth and volunteers help people on wheelchairs to move around,” said a presiding officer at a booth at Kottur.
Smitha Sadasivan of Disability Rights Alliance and an activist was not able to enter her motorised wheelchair as the entrance to poll booths at Advent Christian School and Chennai Middle School, Kottur, did not have a ramp.
A retired employee of Madras High court, Balasubramanian, an octogenarian, told DC he had to contend with his walker as there were no wheelchairs available at Government girls high school, Nanganallur. Election department staff admitted that the booth had not received the wheelchairs.
Volunteer crunch was a major grievance, said Suresh who carried his 83-year-old grandfather to Karnataka Sanga Higher Secondary school at T Nagar. “As my grandfather cannot sit, I was expecting volunteer assistance. Shockingly, I got none,” he said.
