THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Daltonganj, October 25: Palamu SVEEP team did one more novel thing.
It held together differently-abled people (read voters) to drive a point home that if a differently abled voter can vote, why not you when you are in the pink of health?
Nodal officer of the SVEEP team Md Jawed Hussain briefing The Jharkhand Story correspondent said, “Our differently-abled voters are as precious as others. We need them to propagate our message which is just a liner. Vote please.”
“I am happy that last evening we had a very august gathering of different hues of people.
No one saw a third sex with any squint eyes
There came the third sex. They shared their chairs with others. The third sex looked confident in voting. No one in the Pdt Deendayal Upadhaya Smriti Bhavan saw any third sex with any squint eyes. It was such a lovely interfacing all for increasing the percentage of voting,” said Jawed.
Grand old lady Prabha ji
The Nodal officer of SVEEP said, ” We had with us grand old lady Prabha ji. She is 101. Although she has become very hard to hear she gave us ample impression that she has been casting her vote in every election.”
The grand old lady was offered a SVEEP cup of tea. “I felt I was honoured to offer this grand old lady just a SVEEP cup of tea. I can’t tell you what it meant to me,” recalled Jawed.
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SVEEP programmes in Palamu are full of the warmth of the human touch. It’s not bland or sterile. It’s also not a mechanised affair. It’s a warm bonding with the people reminded the nodal officer.
A blind singer played on a harmonium asking people to vote. His appeal was heart-touching.
There in the gathering was a lady in wheel chair. This woman had no regret that she is in her thirties and no man has wedded her rather she has a sea of satisfaction that she has been a regular voter every election and she will be voting this November 13 when Palamu’s 5 assembly constituencies will go to polls.
36,964 persons with disability in Daltonganj
There are 36,964 persons with disability, 8,000 plus voters in the age group of 85 and just one-third sex voters as per the official statistics.
All the differently abled voters had a word of praise for the district social welfare officer Neeta Chouhan saying “This mam takes care of us. She has arranged for crutches and wheelchairs. We feel glad.”
In the gathering were para champions one of them a national-level champion added Jawed. They said they would vote and ask others to vote.
On being asked as to why the SVEEP team so roped in differently-abled voters, pat came the reply “They are the ones who will motivate others to vote. We need every single sane voice for voting.”
The gathering had a couple of erstwhile polling officers who are now retired. The Jharkhand Story correspondent spoke to one such erstwhile polling officer who said “There were years when I conducted the polls. It was a frightful duty then following extremism roaring all around Palamu in the nineties. Naxals used to hate polling parties. We used to pray all day long for our safe return after poll duty.”
Asked if he and others like him would love to be a campaigner for voting, he said “My 3 bahus listen to me and they vote. My wife is dead. When she was alive, she used to accompany me to the booth. I feel sad to vote alone. But I do and I will be voting till there is life in me.”
There is an immense scope for increasing the participation of people in voting. The need is to tap the right people at the right time.
The SVEEP team in Palamu has yet miles to cover for the spike in the voting percentage.
