Election Commission to provide visually impaired voters with braille voter slips in Lok Sabha polls 2019

New Delhi: Visually impaired and blind voters will be provided with braille voter slips in the Lok Sabha elections due this year. [caption id=“attachment_6018971” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Braille is a script with raised dots that can be read with the fingers by people who are blind or who have low vision. It is a tactile reading and writing system used by visually impaired people who cannot access print material. As part of its strategic framework for accessible elections, the commission has told all chief electoral officers to issue accessible photo voter slips with braille to visually impaired voters. The braille enabled slips were used in the 2018 Assembly elections as well. Electronic voting machines already have the braille feature. The ballot paper pasted on the machine with name and symbol of candidates is braille enabled. The Election Commission also plans to provide braille election photo identity cards to visually challenged voters across the country.