Nagaland chief electoral officer (CEO), V Shashank Shekhar informed that to fulfil the commitment of “No voter to be left behind” and ensuing “accessible elections”, various amenities will be provided in the polling stations.
According to CEO, efforts have been made to provide minimum facilities for the voters by providing drinking water, electricity, ramp for PwD voters, toilet, waiting shed, entry passes into the polling station to identified PwD voters, disability ID card holders, octogenarian and older voters, pregnant women voters (identified by Anganwadi workers, etc) and women voters with babies in arms. He said visually impaired will be allowed one companion to the polling booth to record vote in the machines as per choice while the balloting unit of EVM, on the right side of press button contains braille numerals for visually impaired voters.
The CEO therefore asked the political parties to include in the political campaign manifesto and plan for protection and safeguarding rights of PwDs and senior citizens and providing ample opportunity for participating freely. Meanwhile, district election officers have been instructed to facilitate the special needs of the PwDs and senior citizen voters.
