In an effort to promote accessible elections, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has identified ambassadors for the 21 disability categories.
“This is the first time in the country that ambassadors who are persons with disabilities have been identified to make elections more accessible. As part of the training programme for the polling officers, the problems highlighted by the community were also incorporated,” said a senior official from the GCC. Every polling station will have around one to three wheelchairs, and ramps are being set up while also ensuring that the staff at the station are equipped to assist persons with disabilities.
Welcoming the move, Raghuraman Kalyanraman, GCC-appointed ambassador for the visually-impaired, stated that this initiative would ensure that everyone had equal access to cast their vote. “We are trying to work out access audits for all polling stations in Chennai along with the Differently-abled Welfare Office under the GCC,” said Smitha Sadasivan, GCC-appointed ambassador for multiple sclerosis.
Furthermore, the GCC has planned to take mobile vans with a model electronic voting machine to the three Parliamentary constituencies to conduct voting exercises. “This exercise will be organised with the ambassadors. Persons with disabilities can come together to better understand how the process would play out,” the official added.
The GCC has also planned for a mobile van service to ferry the persons with disabilities to polling stations. Currently, the initiative is only in Chennai district, stated disability rights activists, and urged the State government to extend this to every district to ensure accessible elections for persons with disabilities.
