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Journalism of Courage
The Election Commission made special arrangements for Amritsar-based conjoined twins Sohan Singh and Mohan Singh to ensure that secrecy is maintained among them while they cast their vote in the single-phase Punjab Assembly elections that began on Sunday.
The Chief Electoral Officer of Punjab, S Karuna Raju, had said that the EC had considered Sohna and Mohna as separate voters and decided to give individual voting rights to both of them.
Calling it a “unique case”, Gaurav Kumar, the Public Relations Officer of the Election Commission (EC), said: “EC had told us to do a proper videography of the voting. They’re icons of voters with disabilities. They’re conjoined but two separate voters. Arrangements were made by the returning officer and they were even given sunglasses so that the secrecy of voting is maintained.”
Raised at Pingalwara, a charitable society in Amritsar, Sohna-Mohna have two hearts, two pairs of arms, kidneys and spinal cords, but a single liver, gall bladder, spleen and one pair of legs. They are two brains in one body.
At the time of their birth, doctors doubted whether Sohna and Mohna could survive for long. Born on June 14, 2003, at New Delhi’s Sucheta Kriplani Hospital, they were abandoned by their parents. They were later shifted to AIIMS where doctors decided not to separate them as it could result in the loss of one life and vascular and neurological loss in the lower limbs of the survivor.
The twins have an ITI diploma (electrical) and are currently working as Regular T Mate officers with the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited.
