Differently-abled professors exempted from election duty

During the elections in the state, a significant impact has been made by ‘The Daily Guardian’ report on the case of Rajasthan University’s four assistant professors being assigned election duties while keeping rules in mind. When the matter was brought to the attention of Chief Election Officer Praveen Gupta through our correspondent, he immediately contacted the district election officer. Subsequently, the election duty for all four assistant professors was revoked.

Meanwhile, the differently-abled assistant professors have expressed gratitude to ‘The Daily Guardian’ for raising this issue prominently and becoming their voice. In this regard, ‘The Daily Guardian’ published a news article in its Friday edition titled ‘Differently-abled educators challenge election duty rules,’ providing complete information to Chief Election Officer Praveen Gupta, as well.

This case involves four differently-abled individuals currently serving as assistant professors at Rajasthan University. They were assigned election duties contrary to the rules. In this context, the assistant professors had written multiple letters to the department, but neither were they relieved from election duties nor were they assigned duties in nearby constituencies.

They had also written letters to the district election department and the state election department multiple times, but no action was taken. Subsequently, after the news report highlighted their issue, the district election department issued orders relieving Dr Vishal Vikram Singh, Dr Dharampal Yadav, Dr Mohit Jain, and Dr Ladu Ram Chaudhary from all election-related duties.

The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, states that physically disabled individuals should not be assigned election duties. The provisions of this law should also be considered regarding individuals with visual or hearing impairments. Such disabled individuals can voluntarily go to polling or counting centres to perform election duties.

If a person is not in a position to take up election duties, they should be exempted under the satisfaction of the District Election Officer. Additionally, as per the order issued by the Election Commission of India on June 7, 2023, in its 9th point, it explicitly states that duties should not be assigned to persons with disabilities under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. If they are still assigned duties, full support and assistance must be provided.