RK Nagar byelection: Corporation engineers, disability activists map accessibility at polling stations

CHENNAI: For the first time, government officials are accompanying disability rights groups to assess accessibility in polling booths ahead of an election. In a two-day exercise which started on Monday, volunteers, activists and local corporation officials are mapping facilities in all the 256 booths in RK Nagar to make them disabled-friendly for the April 12 byelection.
Disability-rights groups had in previous elections spent their own money to travel to polling stations and conduct audits and submit the collated data to election officials.
On Monday, corporation engineers from each of the seven wards in RK Nagar actively accompanied the groups in their official vehicles.
Activists hope the inclusion drive will continue for other upcoming elections as well. “We covered 98% of the booths day and most of them are inaccessible,” said Smitha Sadasivan of Disability Rights Alliance. “We couldn't audit a few schools today as exams are going on," she said.
The organisation had previously conducted audits across Tamil Nadu ahead of the assembly election in May last year and had found that half of the ramps in polling booths in Chennai were inaccessible and there were several obstructions to people with disabilities. Wheelchairs were provided at polling stations then and an SMS facility was made available to those requiring specific arrangements.