Jharkhand: Son Carries Physically-Challenged Mother to Poll Booth

Ranchi: A man carried his 75-year-old physically-challenged mother on his shoulder and travelled around three kilometres so that she could cast her vote at a booth in Jharkhand’s Khunti district.

People spotted Itwari Devi on her son Basant Munda's shoulder at the Mahil booth in Ulihatu, the birthplace of tribal icon Birsa Munda, in the Khunti Lok Sabha seat.

"My mother has been unable to walk for over a year. She was supposed to cast her vote at our residence but no election official came. My mother was keen to use her voting right. So, I had no choice but to carry her on my shoulder,” Munda, aged 45, told PTI.

He also accused the Election Commission of not making proper arrangements at the booth for physically challenged voters.

“I thought that there would be a wheelchair facility but I did not find one here,” he said.

Like Itwari Devi, enthusiasm among elderly voters to participate in the festival of democracy was also reported from other seats where polling was held on Monday.

At Mandar under the Lohardaga constituency, 75-year-old Seema Oraon walked to polling booth number 62 with the help of a stick and exercised her franchise, while 90-year-old R Khatun availed of a wheelchair facility to cast her vote at the same booth.

Rut Devi, a 65-year-old woman voter, said that she exercised her voting right for the development of Ulihatu and old-age pension.

Garhwa deputy commissioner Shekhar Jamuar said that 100-year-old Ramsarikh Pandey exercised his franchise at booth number 270 in the district, which falls under the Palamu constituency.

Of the 7,595 booths set up for conducting the polls in four Lok Sabha constituencies - Singhbhum, Khunti, Lohardaga and Palamu, 519 centres were managed by women and 14 by persons with disabilities (PwD).