A differently abled middle school teacher was made to run from pillar to post with her polio-affected limbs to get relieved from election duty. It is not the first time that she suffers at the hands officials. She faces this hardship every election time.
The Oddanchatram election officials deputed J. Uma Devi, a secondary school teacher in Gandhinagar Panchayat Union School at Oddanchatram, whose legs are crippled by polio, for duty as a polling official-III.
But she expressed her inability to perform the election work and explained to the officials that she would be of no use to others in the polling station because of her crippled legs. But the officials curtly ordered her to obey the government order.
“When you are able to go to school and take classes, can’t you go for election duty?” an official asked her.
He advised her to attend the training class for polling officials conducted at Christian Polytechnic College in Oddanchatram on Thursday morning. “If you want to get the order changed, you go to the District Election Office at the Collectorate,” he told her.
Her husband Jeevan carried her to the Collectorate to submit a letter seeking exemption from election duty.
He kept her on the corridors of the Collector’s office and went to the District Election Office on the first floor to hand over her letter.
But the officials asked her to bring another person for her place to get herself relieved of the poll duty. If she could not bring another person, she had to meet the Collector, they told Ms. Devi.
“How can I bring another person? All teachers in my school had already been assigned the election duty. The officials don’t understand my situation. Taking class is different from doing the election duty. I have to fight with officials during every election. It is disgusting,” she said.
Finally, when the matter was brought to the knowledge of Collector N. Venkatachalam, he advised the officials to relieve her of poll duty.
