Car pooling for differently abled in coming LS polls

NEW DELHI: For the first time, the election authority is planning to ferry differently abled people to and from voting booths in cars during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Delhi.

Plans are also afoot to tie up with app-based cab aggregators so that there is no shortage of vehicles.

“This is for the first time that such arrangements are being made in Delhi. The district electoral officers have been asked to arrange pool car system for PWDS (persons with disability) voters so that they can be brought to the polling stations and then dropped back home,” said a senior official from the Chief Electoral Officer’s (CEO’S) office.

While data from social welfare department is being collected to identify such persons, their locations would also be mapped with special software so that car pooling can be arranged.

“We have got data of at least 82,000 such people from the state government who would be identified and mapped,” said the official. According to the 2011 census, Delhi has around 2.34 lakh people with disabilities, including children and persons who are mentally challenged.

“A meeting was held with the Delhi CEO in January where the idea of car pooling was discussed. A discussion to project some state icons among the PWD voters is also being thought of,” said Satendra Singh, member of the state committee for accessible elections.

A senior official said that plans are also afoot to come up with an app through which new differently abled voters could enrol themselves.

“Even though special arrangements such as ramps, signages and wheelchairs are kept at polling booths for PWDS, this is for the first time that plans are being made to bring them in pool cars,” said Sandip Dutta, SDM (election) of east Delhi.

He said that the district officials have also approached at least three hospitals from where certificates for disability are issued so that such persons could be contacted. “While letters are being dispatched to the identified voters with disabilities to get themselves enrolled, booth level officers have also been directed to reach out to such voters at their doorstep,” said Dutta.

Authorities in the east district have already identified at least 2000 such voters. In the first step they contacted the hospitals from where certificates of disability are issued.

They were also tallied with the data received from the social welfare department.