Polls to be friendly to specially-abled: CEO

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Mukesh Kumar Meena on Tuesday said steps will be taken to ensure that the forthcoming 2024 general elections are held in a manner which is inclusive, enabling and friendly to specially-abled persons.

The CEO noted that all the eligible specially-abled persons should be enfranchised while the Election Commission is working towards enabling them to vote with all necessary facilities.

“Work towards setting up ramps at all polling stations has reached the final stage. Interested specially-abled persons will be given the option to cast their vote at home through ‘Home Voting’ option,” said Meena in a press release issued from the CEO's office.

For home voting, Form 12 D has to be submitted to the Returning Officer (RO) through the Booth Level Officer (BLO), he said. According to Meena, polling stations with a high number of specially-abled voters

will be manned by Red Cross, National Service Scheme (NSS) and National Cadet Corps (NCC) volunteers to help them exercise their franchise.

Meanwhile, the CEO observed that specially-abled, pregnant and lactating employees will be exempt from election duty and called for their details from all the departments. On Tuesday, the CEO presided over a state-level steering committee meeting on ‘Inclusive Elections for All’ at the secretariat, where he sought information on the difficulties faced by specially-abled voters in the last polls.

He also solicited suggestions for solving those problems from the representatives of specially-abled persons groups and promised to issue orders to include them at the district level and constituency level ‘Inclusive Elections for All’ committees. Andhra Pradesh will witness Legislative Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in a few months.