EC looks to ensure ‘accessible elections’

NEWDELHI:Batimon Nongsteng, a resident of village Massar, in the East Khasi Hills District in Meghalaya, has been appointed as a booth level officer. What makes this appointment unusual is that Nongsteng has a hearing impairment like 50% of Massar’s population; a reason why Massar has earned sobriquet of silent village.

Election commission officials said Nongsteng is perhaps the first ever hearing impaired Booth Level Officer (BLO), whose job is to ensure an error-free and updated electoral roll by collecting actual field information of her polling area. “During the assembly polls in Meghalaya in February, she acted as a bridge between the election commission and the people...,” said the chief electoral officer FR Kharkongor.

Officials said her appointment serves to encourage people with disabilities (PwD) to vote and allows the commission to get first hand information about the issues and concerns that the PwDs face. With an aim to make the polling exercise accessible to all, especially those who disabilities, the poll body picked on a theme of ‘accessible elections’. According to the 2011 census, India has around 70 million people with disabilities.

The commission has taken on board suggestions from experts to ensure people who are wheelchair bound have access to polling booths and there are Braille stickers on EVMs for those with visual impairment, said a senior functionary.

In the past, the commission would be flooded with complaints from PwDs about the lack of access to polling booths.

In 2014, during the assembly polls in Delhi, Anita Ghai professor at Ambedkar University, was allowed access to the polling booth only after she sat outside in protest and her case made it to the TV channel’s report. als.