Blind candidate hopes to create record

Independent candidate from Gopalpur assembly constituency Debasish Paramanik, a blind man, hopes to get into the record books by becoming perhaps the first person in the country to be elected.

Independent candidate from Gopalpur assembly constituency Debasish Paramanik, a blind man, hopes to get into the record books by becoming perhaps the first person in the country to be elected.

HT Image

Twenty-six-year-old Pramanik, a tabla player by profession, depends entirely on door-to-door campaign and does not use a vehicle to carry him through the villages of his constituency in Ganjam district.

Neither does he use any loudspeker to canvass for votes. The only help he gets is from his two trusted friends who take him around and give him the feedback.

"I hope the voters in my constituency will make a history by electing a blind person from their constituency," Paramanik said.

Asked what drove him to contest election, Pramanik, secretary of the Ganjam District Blind Association, said, "I am unable to see the real picture of society, but I can visualise the miseries and sufferings of the poor people. So I thought of doing something for them."

His candidature has also got moral support from the National Fderation of Blind, Orissa unit, he claimed.