Virtual meet on accessible polls held
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, November 25 2021: A virtual conference on 'Accessible Elections' was hosted by the Office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Manipur on Thursday.

Addressing the virtual conference, CEO Rajesh Agrawal informed that the state targets for maximum marking of PWDs voters in the electoral rolls till the completion of SSR, 2021.During the ongoing Special Summary Revision (SSR), 2021, over 4,000 PwD voters were verified and marked in the electoral rolls.

Till date, the number of PwD electors marked in the electoral rolls has crossed 12,000.He further sought assistance and support of CSOs in registration and marking of PwD electors.

The CEO said that an "extra step" towards achieving a larger goal for coverage of all sections has been taken in order to share and inform ECI instruction for PwD facilitation for Postal Ballot, Pick & Drop, and other facilities.

Rajesh Agrawal urged District Election Officers (DEOs) to work for creating awafehess and developing a training module for imparting and sensitising about PwDs to polling personnel, police, BLOs and election officials.

He stressed on Basic Sign Language to be part of the training and developing a database with the unique mobile number of the PwDs.

Accessibility Consultant, Election Commission of India, Smitha Sadasivan stated that for Accessible Election in Manipur to be effective in the upcoming State Assembly Election, 2022, it is important to join hands with the State Social Welfare Department, Disability Groups functioning in District/State Level Federations and Specific Networks such as Associations for the Deaf/Blind, Hemophilia, Thalassemia, Autism, among others.

Those who opt for the Postal Ballot from amongst the PWD voters producing a Disability Certificate is essential, pointed out the Accessibility Consultant, ECI.

She also highlighted various details about Election information in Accessible formats, Barrier free polling booths (Access surveys & reports), Sensitisation of BLOs/POs/Police/Booth Volunteers, Mock polling demonstrations, Wheel chairs, Transport, Postal Ballot, Awareness campaigns/ELCs/Icons, Grievance Redressal & Feedback Mechanism, Wide publicity, etc, to successfully implement Accessible Elections in Manipur.

Over 20 CSO members from all the districts of the state participated in the virtual conference.

Valuable opinions and suggestions for Accessible Elections were shared by the representatives of the CSOs.

It may be mentioned here that the Special Summary Revision (SSR), 2021 will conclude on November 30 .

The virtual conference was also attended by Joint CEOs Ramananda Nongmeikapam and Md Daulat Khan, and officials concerned.

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