Rajasthan
Low Voter Turnout: Gravely Ill, Bedridden Patients Knock At Ec’s Door For Vote From Home Facility | Jaipur News
JAIPUR: Chronic illnesses and traumas among patients may lead to low voter turnout in the upcoming Assembly elections.
Fifty-four-year-old Bhavna Devani is one of the few who is taking all the pain to ensure that she will vote despite undergoing dialysis for the past three years.
Thrice a week, she rushes to the hospital for cleaning her blood. With elections drawing nearer, her husband Mahesh Devani, a businessman in Bikaner, is now seeking help from the district election officer (district collector) as he fears that she will not be able to vote in the upcoming election due to her ill health.Many chronically ill patients might not be taking pain just like Devnanis.
“Being healthy means we can go to polling booths to follow prescribed voting processes. But, if a person is chronically ill, it is difficult. In 2018 Assembly elections, my wife had voted but now for three years, she is undergoing dialysis. I am not sure she will be able to reach the polling booth. In a week, she undergoes dialysis and on the dialysis day (after dialysis) she feels weakness. I am appealing to the district election officer to help us with home voting,” said Mahesh.
Access to voting for chronically ill patients may affect the voting percentage in the elections. “A lot of patients who are on regular chemotherapy, on dialysis, heart patients who could hardly walk, patients taking treatment for fractures, certain neurological disorders, respiratory diseases, for them voting access is a challenge. Hundreds and thousands of such patients might not be able to reach the polling booths,” said a former superintendent, SMS Hospital.
The Election Commission is taking measures to encourage the voters by public participation for increasing the voting percentage in the upcoming polls.
Aiming to increase access to voting for terminally ill or chronic disease patients, a kidney recipient has written to the EC to allow patients suffering from chronic diseases for home voting.
“Kidney recipients take immunosuppressants to prevent rejection of transplanted organ. If they go to crowded polling booths, they may contract infection. I am a kidney recipient and take immunosuppressants. I appealed to the commission for home voting, not for only me but for many others like me. In reply, it asked me to contact the booth level officer of my area. When I contacted him, he told me that the home voting facilities are available for people over 80 years of age and having more than 40% disability,” said Harshwardhan Singh, who underwent kidney transplant in 2018.
The kidney recipient has taken up the issue attracting the attention of the commission towards hundreds of patients suffering from cancer undergoing chemotherapy, orthopaedic issues, neurological disorders, and other chronic diseases. They have difficulty in going to the polling booths and waiting in queues for their turn to vote.
Even though they are suffering from chronic disorders, the patients are willing to vote as their vote can make a difference. The educated patients are making efforts for home voting but those who are not much aware about it are ready to stand in queue on polling day.
A 38-year-old Dalaram of Bhojas Village in district Nagaur, was diagnosed with silicosis as he was facing difficulty in breathing. His lungs are compromised, and he could not breath properly. Despite of that, he is showing determination to play his part in democracy.
“At the moment, I am at Ajmer’s government hospital for my treatment. I will vote in the upcoming election. I will go to the polling booth. My vote has valve. Last month, the government certified me as a silicosis patient. I worked in stone carving unit,” said Dalaram.
Fifty-four-year-old Bhavna Devani is one of the few who is taking all the pain to ensure that she will vote despite undergoing dialysis for the past three years.
Thrice a week, she rushes to the hospital for cleaning her blood. With elections drawing nearer, her husband Mahesh Devani, a businessman in Bikaner, is now seeking help from the district election officer (district collector) as he fears that she will not be able to vote in the upcoming election due to her ill health.Many chronically ill patients might not be taking pain just like Devnanis.
“Being healthy means we can go to polling booths to follow prescribed voting processes. But, if a person is chronically ill, it is difficult. In 2018 Assembly elections, my wife had voted but now for three years, she is undergoing dialysis. I am not sure she will be able to reach the polling booth. In a week, she undergoes dialysis and on the dialysis day (after dialysis) she feels weakness. I am appealing to the district election officer to help us with home voting,” said Mahesh.
Access to voting for chronically ill patients may affect the voting percentage in the elections. “A lot of patients who are on regular chemotherapy, on dialysis, heart patients who could hardly walk, patients taking treatment for fractures, certain neurological disorders, respiratory diseases, for them voting access is a challenge. Hundreds and thousands of such patients might not be able to reach the polling booths,” said a former superintendent, SMS Hospital.
The Election Commission is taking measures to encourage the voters by public participation for increasing the voting percentage in the upcoming polls.
Aiming to increase access to voting for terminally ill or chronic disease patients, a kidney recipient has written to the EC to allow patients suffering from chronic diseases for home voting.
“Kidney recipients take immunosuppressants to prevent rejection of transplanted organ. If they go to crowded polling booths, they may contract infection. I am a kidney recipient and take immunosuppressants. I appealed to the commission for home voting, not for only me but for many others like me. In reply, it asked me to contact the booth level officer of my area. When I contacted him, he told me that the home voting facilities are available for people over 80 years of age and having more than 40% disability,” said Harshwardhan Singh, who underwent kidney transplant in 2018.
The kidney recipient has taken up the issue attracting the attention of the commission towards hundreds of patients suffering from cancer undergoing chemotherapy, orthopaedic issues, neurological disorders, and other chronic diseases. They have difficulty in going to the polling booths and waiting in queues for their turn to vote.
Even though they are suffering from chronic disorders, the patients are willing to vote as their vote can make a difference. The educated patients are making efforts for home voting but those who are not much aware about it are ready to stand in queue on polling day.
A 38-year-old Dalaram of Bhojas Village in district Nagaur, was diagnosed with silicosis as he was facing difficulty in breathing. His lungs are compromised, and he could not breath properly. Despite of that, he is showing determination to play his part in democracy.
“At the moment, I am at Ajmer’s government hospital for my treatment. I will vote in the upcoming election. I will go to the polling booth. My vote has valve. Last month, the government certified me as a silicosis patient. I worked in stone carving unit,” said Dalaram.
