A tough time for differently abled and aged voters

Wheelchairs were not available in many polling stations

Though the differently abled and the aged voters had been promised of being provided with wheelchairs in the polling stations as they arrive there for casting their votes, the non-availability of these facilities in most of the polling stations gave anxious and embarrassing moments for them as they had to seek the help of others. When the differently abled voters, believing the officials’ assurance that they would get wheelchair from the entrance of the polling station up to the booth to cast their votes, came to the polling station to cast vote on Tuesday, they were disappointed. While their family members and the police carried them after making them to sit on a plastic chair in some places, these voters were carried in hands by their relatives in some other places. When an elderly male voter arrived at CSI Jayaraj Annapackiyam Higher Secondary School near Tuckerammalpuram check-post in Palayamkottai Assembly constituency around 8 a.m., his son, who brought his father in a car up to the portico of the polling station, searched for the wheelchair, but in vain. Subsequently, the son and another voter waiting in the queue had to support him to enter the polling booth to cast his vote. Another agonizing scene could be seen at Panagudi under Radhapuram constituency in Tirunelveli district, where a physically challenged girl had to crawl for about 100 meters to reach the polling booth, again due to the non-availability of wheelchair in the polling station.