52 residents of Institute of Mental Health all set to exercise their voting rights

52 residents of IMH in Chennai exercise their voting rights, highlighting the importance of inclusion and participation in elections.

On Friday, 52 residents of the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) will cast their votes at booth number 240A/AV, set up on the campus. This is the third time that the institute is enabling its residents to exercise their voting rights after the Lok Sabha poll in 2019 and Assembly election in 2021.

“A total of 52 of our residents — 29 men and 23 women — are eligible to vote. They possess voter identity cards, and were certified as eligible to vote. They are capable of making decisions, that is, they have the capacity to decide and vote,” M. Malaiappan, director of IMH, said.

Awareness sessions were conducted on two days for the residents, he added. It may be recalled that 156 residents exercised their voting rights for the first time in the history of IMH in 2019, while 84 residents voted during the Assembly election.

Recalling the earlier elections when the residents voted, P. Poorna Chandrika, professor of IMH, said, “They were under the spotlight for the first time and received media coverage. They knew that they were in the limelight. They knew what to speak and answered the right questions to the media without revealing details. They left the booth with a smile on their faces. It was an election festival not only outside but also on our campus.”

“Through this, they are a part of the electoral process and have a role in choosing their representative,” she added.

Vaishnavi Jayakumar, member of Disability Rights Alliance (DRA), who along with Porkodi Palaniappan and Sudha Ramamoorthy conducted awareness sessions for the residents, said that everyone already knew that Friday was voting day. “Suffrage should be universal. Your voter card may be a proof of identity, but it is more importantly a proof that you belong and can participate,” she said.

She pointed out that till date, the Election Commission of India (ECI) is yet to underline and insist on bringing in more citizens into the voting pool - whether in institutions or care homes. “At the registration level, occasionally despite the law, some officials mistakenly assume that people with psychosocial disabilities or learning disabilities cannot or must not vote. The law says we can, the Kerala High Court says we can. ECI must state on record that we can and must remove the ambiguity,” she said.