New Delhi: The Election Commission had directed polling officers to make sure that special arrangement were made for the physically-challenged voters; but not much seemed to have changed. Here is a report by Himanshu Mehta of CNN-IBN.
Despite news reports attributed to the Election Commission that special arrangements are in place for the senior citizens and the physically challenged to be able to vote, there are none it seems, certainly where Jaipuria School, Vasundhara, Ghaziabad, is concerned.
I wasn't allowed to take my car to the entry porch unlike the last time around and had to walk about 50 metres to the porch stairs. To put in perspective, walking 50 metres for me is akin to your running a 15 minute mile! My travails didn't quite end there. I had to negotiate four odd steps to the hall and then walk another 75 metres to the booth. A sentry took pity on me and allowed me to jump the queue. There were others who were far worse off than me. I saw at least two people trying to negotiate the entire maze with the help of walkers. There were no ramps, no passages with enough width that could be negotiated by wheelchair users.
My parents too had a bad time standing in the queue and they are pushing 80 now. Hell of a difference between what the news reports said and the situation on the ground. Good intentions gone bad due to poor execution or sheer apathy?
(Himanshu Mehta is CNN-IBN's Media Research and Archives Head)
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