EC may airlift ST votes

BY J.R.PRASAD

Hyderabad, Feb. 13: The Election Commission, which decided to introduce Electronic Voting Machines with Braille labels for the visually challenged voters to exercise their franchise in the general elections, is all set to help tribal voters also.The EC is planning to either airlift tribal voters living in remote hamlets, hillocks and forests to the nearest polling stations or take the ballot boxes and polling officials to the voters in a helicopter.“There are several habitations in agency areas where around 10 tribal voters live. Setting up polling stations in these areas is not feasible. We are exploring options to airlift them to the nearest polling station or take the ballot boxes to them in a helicopter,” said the chief electoral officer, Mr I.V. Subba Rao.He said ST constituencies like Rampachodavaram in East Godavari district and Paderu in Visakhapatnam district fall under this category.The EC has asked the district officials to work out the number of tribal voters in remote habitations. “We will get the exact number of voters and habitations soon, which require special attention during the polls,” Mr Subba Rao said.According to him, the EC would conduct a meeting with the project officers of the Integrated Tribal Development Agencies during this week and take a decision.Later, the EC will also conduct a meeting with the collectors of Khammam, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and West Godavari districts in this regard.