Braille ballot aids visually challenged

To encourage wide participation, the Election Commission of India (ECI) had made arrangements to issue Braille-enabled ballot papers at polling booths across the State for the differently-abled. Braille is a script with raised dots that can be read by those who are blind or who have low vision by using their fingers.

Accordingly, the ballot paper pasted on electronic voting machines have the names and symbol of candidates in Braille alphabets. In addition, the EC had asked all community resource workers to be present at polling booths to assist the aged and the differently-abled.

Although most of the staff deployed in the booths in and around the city, when asked, said they had little knowledge about using the Braille-ballot papers, Tamil Nadu Association of Blind office bearer G S Viswanathan said many members of the association cast their vote through Braille-ballot papers. 

He also added that only a few poll workers were not aware of the ECI’s Braille ballot paper provision being made available in every booth.

P Kalairaj, a visually challenged person who exercised his franchise at Tondiarpet polling booth, even said that polling officers helped him cast his vote.