HYDERABAD: With the identification of over 18,000 voters as Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) in 15 Assembly constituencies of Hyderabad district, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is drawing special plans for hassle-free voting for the PwDs on the polling day slated for December 7.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has declared the theme of this year as ‘Accessible Elections’ and to have the special focus around the theme, GHMC has planned to make voting for PwDs a hassle-free process in Hyderabad, said M Dana Kishore, District Election Officer and GHMC Commissioner.
All the PwDs have been flagged Assembly constituency-wise. The Booth Level Officers will be given the responsibility to see that PwDs franchise their vote. The BLOs identified for the task would be provided with special uniforms for easy identification. For one polling station, there would be one supervisor, for every 10 polling stations one coordinator will be appointed, for every 50 polling stations one vehicle will be allocated for transporting the PwDs from their house to the polling stations and back, Dana Kishore said.
Hyderabad district will ensure that every polling booth is equipped with AMF like drinking water, shed, toilet, ramp for the physically challenged voters. Meanwhile, voter Accessibility App for the differently-abled will make the voting process for the persons with disabilities convenient, he said.
222 auxiliary polling booths
CEO said that as many as 222 auxiliary polling booths would be set in the State on polling day. This will increase the number of polling stations in the State from 32,574 to 32,794.