Nepal

Differently-abled persons ask EC to guarantee secret voting rights

Differently-abled persons ask EC to guarantee secret voting rights

By Rastriya Samachar Samiti

A Visually impaired participant votes during a mock election for the upcoming elections organised by the Election Commission Nepal with support from UNDP's Electoral Support Project to familiarise the visually impaired participants from 70 districts with the specifics of the voting process in Dhulikhel at Kavrepalanchowk District, Nepal on Tuesday, November 14, 2017. Photo: Skanda Gautam/THT

BANEPA: Differently-abled persons have requested the Election Commission to guarantee the rights of secret voting for the upcoming House of Representatives and State Assemblies elections. At an interaction organised on election of the House of Representatives and State Assemblies at Dhulikhel today, they complained that physically disabled persons are deprived of opportunity of voters' education. Saying the blind persons have no rights of secret voting as they were not able to cast vote without helpers, Chairperson of Nepal Association of Blind Ramesh Pokharel said that it would be easier to make the blind persons known about the voting process as 70 per cent blind persons are involved in teaching profession. On the occasion, Chief Election Commissioner Dr Ayodhee Prasad Yadav assured of utilization of technology gradually in other elections. Chief District Officer of Kavrepalanchowk, Shiva Prasad Shinkhada, Kundan Das Shrestha of UNDP (ESP), among others said that all the people have responsibility to make the elections successful as the country would head to the new path after the elections. Here are some of the pictures of differently-abled persons participating at a mock voting in Dhulikhel of Kavre district as captured by our THT photo journalist Skanda Gautam today.