E-Paper
633 elderly, disabled voters opt for vote from home facility in Chandigarh
Polling through ballots in Chandigarh under the vote-from-home facility will get underway on May 25 and continue till May 29
As many as 633 senior citizens aged above 85 and persons with disability have opted to cast their votes from home, as per data shared by the Chandigarh election department.
Polling through ballots under the vote-from-home facility will get underway on May 25 and continue till May 29. Of these 633 voters, 557 are senior citizens and 76 are persons with over 40% disability.
Chandigarh will be electing its next member of Parliament (MP) in the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections on June 1, but polling from home through ballot papers will be completed by May 29, as per the schedule made by the election department.
For the first time, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has decided to extend the home voting facility to senior citizens and persons with disability.
In Chandigarh, in all, 4,698 people aged over 85 and persons with over 40% disability were eligible for the facility, but only 633 opted for it, while the rest chose to vote by visiting polling booths.
As per the data, most of the senior citizens who opted for home voting are from southern sectors of Chandigarh (Sectors 31 to 56).
Around 352 senior citizens out of the total 557 are from Sectors 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 38 (West), 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 61, 63, Industrial Area Phase-2, Faidan village, Hallomajra, Ram Darbar, Behlana, Burail, Attawa, Khajeri, Buterla, Badheri, Palsora, Maloya, Dadumajra and EWS colony.
Only 15 senior citizens opted for home voting from colonies and erstwhile villages.
While explaining the procedure of home voting, district election officer-cum-deputy commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh said, “The facility aims to help voters who cannot travel to polling booths to cast their vote but do not want to miss their right of voting. Special teams comprising block level officers (BLOs) and officials distributed Form 12-D to senior citizens and disabled people from April 15 to May 12. The officials explained to each eligible voter about the facilities being provided by the election department at every polling booth, including free pick and drop facility for senior citizens, separate queue and medical kits.”
“A ballot paper will be issued to voters who opted for home voting and they will no longer be eligible for voting through EVM. Their names will bear a stamp on voters list available at the polling booth concerned to make sure they do not vote twice,” he added.
“Special officers will take voting compartments to each registered voter’s home and proper webcasting will be done to make sure elections are held in a free and fair manner. Also, polling agents of each political party will also share the schedule of home voting,” said, adding that every facility will also be provided at all polling booths for senior citizens and disabled voters who choose to vote there.
Though the election department claims that each one of the eligible senior citizens was contacted to share information about home voting, some voters alleged that they were not approached.
