Differently abled voters go up by 158% in Karnataka

The Assembly election this time will have 5.5 lakh differently-abled voters, a 158% increase from the previous count.

According to Election Commission officials, this is the result of an effort to have a more inclusive electoral roll from marginalised communities.

While there were 2.15 lakh voters in 2018, the number has gone up to 5.55 lakh.

The office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Karnataka took up special drives in coordination with the Directorate of Welfare of Disabled and Senior Citizens.

Speaking to DH, Latha Kumari, Director, Directorate for the Empowerment of Differently Abled and Senior Citizens, said they took it as a mission to enroll as many PwD voters (Persons with Disabilities) as possible this year.

“In order to identify those left out of the voters’ list, we made use of beneficiary data from disability pension, Unique Disability Identity Card (UDID) and Kutumba portal. We roped in village rehabilitation workers. In urban areas, we co-ordinated with the BBMP and the teams which took up door-to-door campaigns,” she said.

Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Meena added that the Commission requested the help across departments to include more voters from marginalised communities. “We coordinated with the tahsildars to reach out to those who were left out of the electoral rolls,” he said.

Special drives

Sources in the CEO’s office said special drives were intensified on the ground, unlike previous elections. “The effort was to increase the overall voter turnout. We then realised that a huge section of the marginalised communities were not part of the electoral rolls. So, we mapped and increased these numbers. We have also strengthened infrastructure to ensure they turn up to the polling booth,” a source said.

The Election Commission has also seen a 32.5% increase in the number of voters aged above 80. In 2018, there were 9.17 lakh voters above the age of 80. This year, it is increased to 12.15 lakh.

Vote from home

For the 2023 Assembly election, arrangements are made for both PwD and octogenarian voters to vote from home if they are unable to make it to the polling booth.

While hailing the ECI’s efforts, Kiran Nayak, general secretary, Karnataka Vikala Chethanara Samsthe, pointed out that there are at least three lakh more PwD voters left out. “The government is depending on 2011 census data, which is more than a decade old. Many have migrated and many more have come into the differently-abled category owing to health issues such as paralysis. These must be accounted for,” he said.

The total number of disabled people as per the 2011 census is 13.34 lakh.