Gurvinder Singh                                                                                                                            Tribune News Service                                                                                                                        Ludhiana, October 22

To ensure that those who cannot come to cast their vote on their own during the upcoming Assembly elections aren’t left out, the district administration is going to reach out to them at their doorstep to help them exercise their adult franchise.

The district administration will arrange free taxi service for the visually impaired and physically challenged voters.

Around 3,400 physically challenged voters have been identified by the district election office, of which 100 are visually impaired.

Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat said it was important to have the maximum participation of residents in the democratic process.

“We want each eligible resident to cast his/her vote. Some of them should not be left out just because of their handicap. Taxi service will be arranged for the visually impaired and physically challenged voters, who cannot come to cast their vote on their own,” he said.

“We are in talks with online taxi service providers including Ola and Uber for providing the service for this purpose,” he said.

Some of the visually impaired persons said it was a good initiative.

“I think it is very considerate of the authorities to take this step. Many visually impaired people cannot go to cast their vote because someone is not available to go along. The cab service will help them. My only concern is that the visually impaired should also be given a list of candidates in Braille script. I hope the authorities will ensure this as well,” said Jyoti Malik, a visually impaired woman residing near Chandigarh Road.

Ravi Khurana, 27, an employee of the BDPO office at PAU, said he had faced this problem while going to cast his vote a couple of times, but the provision of a taxi service would help, he said.