Beating all the odds, 37 visually impaired women on Sunday turned up to exercise their franchise at a polling booth in Green Field school here.
"Most of us aren't first-time voters so we were able to easily cast our votes as per the instructions were given to us. We have never faced any difficulty while voting because if necessary, we'll get assistance from the volunteers and the agents present in the booths," one of the impaired women told .
Urging physically challenged people to come out and vote despite the challenges posed to them, she said, "Everyone should vote as it is their duty towards the country. More training classes during the time of election would encourage people like us to vote."
Talking on behalf of the visually impaired, the caretaker told , "A proper training was given to them to cast their votes properly. We have even orgsed classes in which they received all the required instructions regarding the voting process."
They were taught to link numerical numbers with that of party symbols so that they can easily identify the person and the party for which they're voting just by touching the number itself, she added.
According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), a voter turnout of 59.38 per cent was recorded till 4 pm in eight Lok Sabha seats of Madhya Pradesh.
Counting of the votes is scheduled to take place on May 23.