By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 26 Mar: Additional Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Kumar Jogdande addressed the media at the Secretariat media centre here, today. He shared that arrangements are being made in the state to facilitate the voting process. Arrangements for home voting have also been ensured for voters aged 85 years or more. Jogdande stated that there are 65,160 voters in the state aged 85 years or more. Forms were made available to all voters aged 85 years or higher, of which 10,390 applications have been received. There are 80,330 disabled (PWD) voters in the state, out of which 5, 576 voters have applied for voting through postal ballot. The last date to apply was 25 March, 2024, after which the District Election Officer (DEO) will provide the facility of voting through postal ballot to all these voters. In every district, teams will visit the homes of every voter and establish contact with them. The process of door-to-door voting through postal ballot will be started in the state from 8 April in the first phase for 3 days. If some voters are not available at home on these dates, then the second phase will be started for such voters from 10 April again the details of which will be decided at the district level. This information will also be made available to voters through newspapers and other mediums.
The Additional Chief Electoral Officer said that basic facilities have been arranged for voters in 11,729 polling stations in the state. Facilities like ramps, drinking water, furniture have been made available in 94 percent polling places, while sheds are available at around 98 percent polling stations. The Saksham app has been arranged by the Election Commission of India for all identified disabled category voters and voters of 85 years or more. Requests for 1524 wheelchairs have been received through Saksham App in the state. Also, 994 requests for dolis and 5,910 requests for attendants have been received. Instructions have been given by the District Election Officers to provide all these facilities to the voters. Efforts have been made to provide Braille based copies to assist visually impaired voters who have knowledge of Braille. Braille marked ballot paper will be made available for visually impaired voters. Free and cashless medical services will be provided to all the personnel involved in the election as and when required during election duty. Government and listed hospitals will be included in this.
Apart from the personnel linked with the Ayushman scheme, this facility will also be provided to the personnel who are not linked with this scheme. Booth level health management plan is being prepared for every booth in the state. Whatever team goes to every booth, it will be given complete information about whom to contact for medical services, which will be the nearest health centre and community centre. Emergency kits of medicines will also be made available in the booths. He also shared that till now 9,318 complaints have been received in the state through C-Vigil app, 8930 complaints have been resolved, 369 complaints have been dropped as they were not found to be true. Also, 19 complaints have been resolved while action is underway at various levels to resolve the remaining ones.
