6,328 elderly voters opt for home voting option in Jaipur

JAIPUR: For the first time, the option of home voting has been given to facilitate people aged 80 years and above as well as the physically challenged, but in Jaipur not even four per cent of such voters are ready for it, said officials here on Tuesday.

In Jaipur district, only 902 disabled voters in 19 Assembly constituencies have expressed their desire to avail the facility of home voting by filling 12-D form, while 6,328 elderly voters have chosen the option of home voting.

The election commission team will visit houses only for two days within the stipulated time. The vote will be void if one fails to meet the criteria, said the officials.

The number of elderly voters in Jaipur is over one lakh, while the number of physically challenged voters is 34,673.

From November 4 - 21 there are only 64,700 voters from across the state who chose the option of voting at home. This is only 3.75 per cent of the total 16 lakh voters in these two categories (elderly and differently-abled) voters.

In fact, the Central Election Commission had started the facility of home voting for the first time in order to increase the voting percentage keeping in view the problems of the elderly and disabled. For this, applications were distributed door to door from October 20 to November 4. During this, 12-D forms were filled by these voters. Within 16 days, a total of 64,700 voters in the entire state filled the Form 12-D and submitted them to their BLOs.