Persons with Disabilities: An Ignored Section of Electorates in India?


BANGALORE: In a democratic country like India, election is one such time when all citizens of a country grab the golden opportunity to pick leaders of their own choice. It is mainly exercised through the right to vote, and the right to secret ballot. Being a citizen of India, the differently able sections of the society are entitled for this right too. Unfortunately, though persons with disabilities comprise 2.21 percent of India's population, yet they still struggle throughout the electoral process - from registering to vote to receiving assistance at polling booths to standing for elections, reports Amba Salelkar of Grist Media.

Most political parties may see the disabled as a mere electorates, but they could actually be a difficult vote bank to get. As per the conventional calculation, it shows that this section could be as large as one out of every six voters.

As, many a times PwDs are often ignored of their basic services on the polling booth, some of them vented out their anger on social networking sites. Abha Khetarpal, a wheelchair user and president of NGO Cross the Hurdles, wrote on the Facebook page voicing out how polling booth number A-28 in Subhash Nagar in Delhi, where she had to cast her vote, had no ramps for wheelchair users and no Braille stickers.

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