Lok Sabha elections 2019: Persons with disabilities manage booth

A group of people in the queue outside poll booth number 69 at a polling station in south Delhi’s Madangir became agitated around noon and started ranting about how the process was taking too long. The tension diffused within a few minutes, however, after a brief, friendly chat with a police officer posted there.

The polling booth was being managed entirely by persons with disabilities. This was the first such booth in Delhi.

“At the very least, this exercise has initiated a dialogue among voters on the role of persons with disabilities in the election process,” Satender Singh, the presiding officer of polling booth, said.

One such booth was organised in Goa as well this general election, said Singh, who led a team of four.

“The idea was to endorse inclusion of persons with disabilities in the democratic exercise of elections and to maximise the turnout of disabled voters. It would always help them if they see persons with disabilites in charge of the polling booths,” Mohit Arora, 29, a banker who was part of the team, said.

For the exercise, the team had to go through a rigorous training module that lasted three days. According to Ameerul Siddiqui, another member of the team, the training started from scratch. “Today, we had to arrive at the polling station by 4am, set up the system on our own and conduct a mock voting exercise in the presence of an election official,” Siddiqui, a professor, said.

First Published: May 13, 2019 06:36 IST