Blind football for voting enrollment,rights

SHILLONG, SEPT 16: Meghalaya’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) office organized the first ever   blind football match between the Kerala

Blind Football team from the Kerala Blind Football Federation (BBFF) and the Meghalaya Blind Football team in collaboration with the Bethany Society and the Jyoti Sroat School for the Blind.

The blind football match was organized as  part of the forthcoming summary revision exercise as the Election Commission this year has laid special focus on raising awareness and encouraging special categories like People With Disability(PWD) to participate in the democratic process by initiating a special drive for enrollment amongst the differently abled.

The theme of the programme is “Come witness the players score a goal and enroll.”

The programme is also part of SVEEP (Systematic Voters Education and Electoral participation Programme)

Blind football is a side game where blind players are blind folded with and has its own rules with the blind players tracking the football through a football having bells inside. The Kerala Blind team has also participated in international games in Singapore and Malaysia and a few of the players are also member of the Indian National Blind Team.

At the end of the game Meghalaya CEO FR Kharkongor dwelled on the Election Commissions theme of “No Voter to be Left Behind” and urged for focused participation of PWDs. Others who were present were Jt.CEO T Lyngwa, Director Bethany Society Carmo Naronha and SVEEP icon for PWDs Bertha Dkhar, who spoke the necessity of inclusive participation and enrolment of PWDs in the electoral process.-By Our Reporter