Chandigarh, 28th March, 2019: Determined to make the upcoming elections inclusive in every way, the Election Department Chandigarh under the SVEEP Programme today organized an orientation workshop for PwDs (Persons with disabilities) at Asha Kiran, sector-46, Chandigarh. The event was presided by Sh. Mandip Singh Brar, IAS, Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Electoral Officer.
During the workshop, an interaction session was held wherein the PwDs were apprised about new voter Ids, VVPAT machines and disabled-friendly measures taken up by the Election Commission of India for the Lok Sabha Elections 2019. These included organizing special awareness programmes, pick and drop facility for polling stations, disabled friendly App and sensitization camps for training of EVM/VVPAT machine.
The Election Department Chandigarh gave live demonstration of EVM & VVPAT machine to address the issues of PwDs regarding the electoral process. Form 6 was provided to the new voters at the workshop along with facilitation to fill up and submit their voter registration forms. A video was presented informing about the voting right of PwD’s and the ‘PwD App’ that has been created by Election Commission of India for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs). The App enables them to request for new registration, change in address/particulars and wheelchair during polling. By simply entering their contact details, the Booth Level Officer is assigned to provide doorstep facility. Apart from providing facilities like ramps and railings, speech and hearing signages, transportation arrangements will also be made by the Election Department for people with disability on the polling day.
Addressing the gathering, Sh. Brar said, “We should all be proud to be a part of the largest democracy in the world. Elections should be celebrated as the biggest festival of our country, in which each voter must participate and exercise their right to vote. When people exercise their power as voters, they elect local, state, and national leaders who are reflective of the country they serve.” He further added, since you all are leading in different fields of life, I am certain that in voting there will be maximum participation from PwDs. Each person will be given hands on training of the EVM/VVPAT machine and Braille ballot paper will be used for the training of Blind persons. Concluding the workshop, District Electoral Officer appealed each person to register as voters at the workshop and cast their right to strengthen the democracy.
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