3 months ago
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Thirty-nine-year-old Arpita Banerjee, a nonmigratory of Baranagar successful West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, has been battling aggregate wellness problems since childhood, exacerbated by neurological disorders.
Born successful November 1987, Ms. Banerjee had been connected the earlier 2025 elector database and was included successful the post-Special Intensive Revision (SIR) draught electoral rolls published successful December past year. Soon after, however, she received a announcement to be a proceeding implicit a “logical discrepancy” arising from a mismatch successful the spelling of the surname “Banerjee” successful her and her father’s records.
Her 76-year-old father, a small-time businessman, accompanied her to the hearing, wherever they had to hold for a bully 3 hours earlier officials clicked her photograph and accepted her disablement certificate arsenic documentary evidence, arsenic mandated nether SIR rules. The experience, however, has near her traumatised.
Similar difficulties person been reported by different voters with disabilities. Lokman Sheikh, a idiosyncratic with ocular disablement from Raghunathganj Assembly Constituency nether Murshidabad district, had to hold successful the queue during his hearing, with nary abstracted installation for radical similar him, contempt being called implicit a “logical discrepancy” successful his name.
The genitor of a non-verbal autistic lad from Kolkata, who did not privation to beryllium identified, said they had to hold for astir 5 hours successful a queue with their lad for the SIR hearing, triggering terrible anxiousness successful the child.
According to the Election Commission of India data, West Bengal had 5,07,089 registered voters with disabilities successful the 2024 electoral rolls utilized for the Lok Sabha elections. The ECI provides a location voting installation for voters with disabilities.
During the SIR of electoral rolls successful West Bengal, the ECI issued directives connected January 7, exempting definite categories of voters, including persons with disabilities, from carnal hearings. The directive stated that disabled electors who taxable circumstantial requests to the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) oregon Assistant EROs, either straight oregon done household members, whitethorn not beryllium called for hearings. If notices had already been issued, officials were instructed to interaction specified voters by telephone and behaviour verification astatine their homes.
However, activists accidental the concern connected the crushed is starkly different, mostly owed to the abbreviated announcement period. “Most voters are being asked to look wrong 2 days oregon adjacent the precise adjacent day. As radical are already anxious and nether large stress, they are not taking immoderate chances and are rushing for hearings contempt large hardships,” said Shampa Sengupta, a Kolkata-based disablement rights activist.
People stitchery during a proceeding of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, successful Balurghat, West Bengal. File | Photo Credit: PTI
A elder ECI authoritative from West Bengal told The Hindu that it was the work of Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to process and facilitate exemption requests, arsenic they are section residents acquainted with families successful the area.
V. Muralidharan, wide caput of the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD), said, “While the ECI has robustly implemented location voting for aged and disabled voters during elections, the aforesaid groups look unnecessary harassment during elector rotation revisions”.
“Many disabled persons person complained of being humiliated and treated successful an undignified manner. With the workout present progressively resembling a citizenship verification drive, it is apprehended that galore disabled radical volition not lone look disenfranchisement, but besides beryllium forced to beryllium their citizenship,” helium said.
