CHENNAI: With the Election Commission of India issuing a fresh strategy to hold accessible elections for persons with disabilities, city activists said that although a step in the right direction, the fresh guidelines leave much to be desired.
During the RK Nagar elections, activists had raised objections over the serial numbers stuck on the existing Braille on the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs)
“Initially, stickers were used but in the versions of EVMs that followed, Braille was embossed on the machines itself. What happened during the RK Nagar elections is that since there were many candidates, one ballot box was linked to another and the continuing serial numbers after 16 were stuck on top of the existing embossed Braille,” said city-based activist Vaishnavi Jayakumar
The fresh guidelines proposed to renumber the linked ballot units from 1. For instance, if the number of contesting candidates including NOTA are 19 (exceeding 16, the limit which one ballot unit accommodates), the ballot sheets would be numbered from 1 to 16 and for candidates from 17-19, the serial numbers would again begin from 1. Then, the ballot units would be labelled in Braille as, for instance, ‘Ballot Unit- 01’.
However, Vaishnavi said that the usage of Braille has decreased over the years. “Since technology has decreased the usage of Braille, we had proposed to make the candidate list more accessible as it comprises purely of images and so, can be read universally,” she said.
Activists also had reservations on the special Electors Photo Identity Card, a draft for which was also released recently by the commission. “The design is being tweaked but do you need a card that shows you are different from the others? Instead, what some activists like Poonam Natarajan had proposed is to have a card that indicates requirements like the need for a sign language interpreter, and not one saying you are differently abled,” she said.
A new card
Activists had proposed a card which indicates requirements like the need for a sign language interpreter