Three persons with disabilities friendly polling booths to be set up in DK

April 11: Dr Selvamani R the Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer and Sveep Committee Chairman said that three persons with disabilities (PWD)-friendly polling booths would be set up in Dakshina Kannada district. These polling booths will be set up in Mangalore, Belthangady and Puttur taluks. All the three polling booths will be managed by differently abled officials. The setting up of PWD-friendly polling booths is to inform the public that differently abled officials are also capable of handling election-related works and are equal to others.
Efforts have been made to ensure 100% polling by the persons with disabilities in the district. The district has 10,911 PWD voters, of which 5,756 are physically challenged, 829 are visually impaired, 1,006 are hearing impaired, 3,320 suffer from various disabilities. Selvamini said that the Election Commission wants to ensure that none are denied of exercising their franchise. Therefore the authorities have made vehicle arrangements to transport them to 1,014 polling booths in the district. The visually impaired voters will be given magnifying glass and a ballot in Braille script. A nodal officer has been appointed in each gram panchayat.