Wheelchair-bound voters exercise franchise

Anantnag, Sep 18: Ghulam Hassan Ganai, a wheelchair-bound octogenarian, was surrounded by his family members who brought him to cast his vote in south Kashmir’s Srigufwara-Bijbehara assembly constituency early Wednesday morning.

Amid the long queues of voters, the special polling booths set up for People with Disabilities (PwD) and women were the centre of attraction.

Voters said that such initiatives set their polling stations apart and made voting more accessible.

“Such facilities are very important and help us make voting more accessible. I am again casting my vote like I have done in the past so that we get our representative and our issues are resolved. There are so many issues from inflation to unemployment which need to be addressed,” said Ganai, who was assisted by the employees at the polling station.

His son, Rayees Ahmad also voiced the same issue and expressed his happiness with the accessibility provided at the polling station.

In this polling booth set up in Islamia High School, Ferozi Shah Mohalla Bijbehara, many people with disability were registered for polling.

“We have multiple people registered here who are PwDs. We are providing all the necessary help wherever necessary. These initiatives help them amid the rush of voters. The availability of ramp for wheelchairs makes it accessible for elderly voters who are wheelchair bound,” said Mehmood Ahmad, an official at the polling station.

In addition to special polling booths for PwDs, many polling stations were decorated with pink balloons and other decorations. These were the special polling booths for women.

Officials said that there were many pooling booths set up across south Kashmir, which were specially meant for women.

One such polling booth was set up for the 44-Anantnag assembly constituency at Women’s College Qazibagh.

“These initiatives not only make voting easy but also make us feel important and realise that our vote counts. We have female police personnel here as well which is good to see,” said a group of women voters.

The officials had also set up a help desk for the votes in the women’s polling stations.

“We are here for all the assistance whenever help is required. This helps female votes to save themselves from the hustle and cast their vote at ease,” an official at the desk said.