Improving Accessibility for PWD’s of Balochistan in Election

“The Balochistan’s Person with disabilities (PWD’s) act 2017,” said that, a person with disabilities shall have the full right to participate in political activities. This right gives them the liberty to cast their vote for whoever they want to vote for and also take part in general elections. They have representation in the elected bodies through special quotas. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) shall have to facilitate a person with disabilities to have easy access to polling booths and the commission make sure the arrangements for them to cast their vote with full confidentiality without any difficulty.

There are 5284594 registered voters in 2023 all over Balochistan according to the data of the election commission of Pakistan. In Quetta, the provincial capital the total registered voters are 819311. The total number of PWD’s voters in the province as well as in Quetta city is not confirmed but according to the data of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), there are 10495 persons with disabilities in Balochistan in February 2021. Of these 9682 persons have CNIC which means they are registered voters.

As a person with disability voter if you want special treatment and facilities in the general elections you have to register yourself through the proper process and make your disability certificate said Zia Ur Rehman a social activist from Quetta Online Organization. When any disabled person successfully makes his/her disability certificate then NADRA issues them persons with disabilities CNIC and then they are eligible for vote casting. I cast my vote three times in general elections because I am aware but it is our bad luck that most of person with disabilities doesn’t know the process of making disability certificate and another main issue is that the process of making disability certificate is difficult. Because the medical board assessment is held once a month most of the persons with disabilities from the areas of Kuchlak, Nawa Killi, and Saryab don’t have the mobility to be present in front of the assessment board.

He mentioned some of us are aware and they also take training in this regard and they made their documents properly. But then accessibility to the polling booths is an issue, sometimes there are no ramps for the persons who use wheelchairs. In many cases, they have no mobility to reach the polling stations. They introduced the ballot system of casting votes from home for persons with disabilities through the post office but there is almost zero percent awareness about this system in our PWD’s community. Coming and going repeatedly to any government office is not fruitful for persons with disabilities so the government have to step up in this regard and introduce and implement a mechanism in which person with disabilities easily make their disability certificate, CNIC card, and Domicile in one go.

Before the general elections 2018, I attended training on the subject of persons with disabilities vote casting organized by THE SPECIAL ONES organization about vote casting through the ballot system. I submitted my form to the post office but I never received my ballot until now said Inayat Ullah “Social Media Influencer of the PWD’s Department”. It was the first time I tried to cast my vote but I never successfully cast my vote. In upcoming elections, I cast my vote through a traditional voting system. The very first hurdle persons with disabilities face at polling stations is stairs. Stairs are like a mountain for physically disabled persons.

Administration and departments must have to overcome this issue for persons with disabilities. If they introduced an electronic voting system instead of the traditional voting system for persons with disabilities, transgenders, and old age voters it is a very keen step to increase voter turnout in general elections in 2024. Many of our community members are not aware of the vote-casting process but this issue overcomes if concern department-bound political parties about a person with disability voters’ importance. There is a rule about five percent of women participation in any polling booth otherwise polling booth votes are not considered in the counting process. The same thing has to be implemented for persons with disabilities then every political party itself organizes awareness campaigns for disabled voters.

Jameel Ahmed appointed as Male Attendant at The Special Ones organization said that the very first hurdle, we face is making our CNIC card. It is a very long process which makes it difficult for disabled persons to make NIC. I cast my vote in the last general elections and I witness that there are long lines and there is no mechanism for PWD’s. Our organization assigned us an activity in previous general elections about observing different polling stations and how they facilitate persons with disabilities.

There is not any special treatment or facilitation there at any polling booth, even our citizens never showed any spirit at that time instead of showing some morality they said Disabled persons we are standing in lines you must do the same. While talking about data on persons with disabilities he said that we never focused on collecting data that what is the total population of disabled persons. Our main focus is to facilitate every person with a disability whether his/her disability is physical, mental, or anything else.

One main issue people with disabilities and old age voters faced was the access to the polling stations. Some of them have wheelchairs and some of them use other assistive equipment for their survival. It is necessary for them that someone assist them in accessing the polling stations said Bushra Qamar Bureau Chief of GTV Quetta. Polling agents and political agents must make this process easier for PWD’s and old-age voters. There is another way that district administration and election commission make separate easily accessible polling stations for PWD’s. About the electoral voting system, she mentioned that in the tribal society of Balochistan, everyone is in favor of the electoral voting system.

She said, the tribal people prefer that their women cast their votes from home. Implementing an electoral voting system in Balochistan is not everyone’s cup of tea, because of bad signals and law-in-order conditions in the province. The rural areas of Balochistan like Awaran, Punjgur, and many others have very bad signals and not everyone has access to Android mobile phones. In the past, some incidents of terrorism made Balochistan a sensitive province of our state which makes it hard for the system to introduce a new electoral voting system and implement it within the whole province.

The source from the Election Commission of Pakistan said that we never guess the turnout of persons with disabilities voters in upcoming general elections and we don’t have any data regarding registered voters who are disabled. We collected data on gender like the total number of registered voters mentioned on the election commission website. If we talk about hurdles in the registration process then I might say that there is not any hurdle in the registration process when they make their NIC card they are automatically registered as voters through the Computerized Electoral Roles System (CERS).

He mentioned that ECP has taken several steps to make the voting system easier for PWD’s. We introduce a postal balloting system for them in which they cast their vote by postal ballot. Braille posters are displayed at polling stations for those who are visually impaired. Civil Society Organization and Breaking Barriers for Women will affiliate with us to spread awareness and educate persons with disabilities about the postal ballot system. We bound the provincial government to make arrangements for ramps on polling stations to make vote casting easier for persons with disabilities. We also strictly instructed returning officers to give priority and help persons with disabilities in their vote casting. While talking about electoral voting systems he said that it will be a daunting task because people need proper training to cast their votes through the electoral system.

Commissioner Quetta Muhammad Hamza Shafqaat mentioned there are 5000 polling stations in the province for upcoming elections. Around 16 seats of MNAs and more than 50 seats of MPAs contested in elections. Administration takes steps and try to enable ramp facilities on every single polling station for the comfort of PWD’s. If ramp facility is not available then helpers are hired to assist them. In the last meeting with the Election Commission, it was confirmed that most of the polling stations are made on the ground floor which makes it easier for disabled voters to cast their votes. Election Commission runs awareness campaigns on print, mainstream, and social media and we have a plan to run a massive campaign in the last ten days before elections. These campaigns aware disabled voters regarding the registration process, ballot posting, and other things about elections.

When I try to contact for interview different politicians on the affairs and issues of persons with disabilities, they never respond positively. Some of them are not present in the city, and some of them never replied to my messages and never picked up the phone calls. I communicate the purpose of the story and its importance but I guess they think that the votes of persons with disabilities are not that important for them.