A policeman helps a wheelchair-bound senior citizen into a polling booth in Lakkasandra on Friday.
DH Photo/SK Dinesh
While many polling stations ensured accessible elections, a few still fell short on Friday.
DH’s reality check revealed some polling stations were ill-prepared, failing to offer even the basic facilities.
Ramps for wheelchair users at polling stations may be a common sight, but at Sadashivanagar’s HKES Veerendra Patil College, elderly voters preferred painful climbing of stairways at the entrance rather than the steep ramp without the railings on the right side with pots lined up below.
Elderly people and those with disabilities readily used wheelchairs made available in all polling stations, but inadequate seating in many places meant voters stood for long hours — some in cramped, poorly-lit places. This was the case at St Joseph’s Indian High School where people queued up at 7.30 am.
Booths acted differently in the way they handled mobile phones.
At Horamavu Agara’s Millennium School, and one of three polling booths at Gavipuram’s Nivedita School, security personnel strictly implemented the ‘no phones inside’ rule. They asked voters to leave the phones outside the rooms.
A voter peaked in through the window to click a picture of the voting process at a government school in Dollars Colony, but security persons snatched the phone and deleted the images. In other areas, the rules were not strictly implemented.
Unequal distribution of voters was evident in stations with multiple booths, resulting in long-winding queues outside certain booths. Voters endured the scorching afternoon sun and swirling dust kicked up by passing vehicles while waiting in the queue.
At Gandhi Bazaar’s Tin School, over 1,180 voters stood at one booth in the single-storey building, while the other one had 675. The entrance to one booth had a long queue, while in the other, people entered in single digits all afternoon.
Without a shelter, many huddled under nearby trees, breaking up the queue into smaller groups that stood under the building’s roof.