EPIC CARDS, PHOTO VOTER SLIPS IN BRAILLE FOR LS POLLS
CHANDIGARH: : Haryana chief electoral officer (CEO) Anurag Agarwal on Thursday said that for the convenience of visually impaired voters in the state, Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) and photo voter slips will be printed in Braille script.
The facilities such as Braille ballot papers and slips on EVMs will also be made available for visually impaired voters, the CEO said, adding various facilities are being provided to PwD voters, including arrangements for wheelchairs, ramps at polling stations, and transportation to bring PwD voters to the polling station.
The CEO said that visually impaired voters and PwD voters who are unable to cast their vote by pressing the machine button can bring a helper with them to cast their vote. The age of the helper should be 18 years or older. He said that PwD voters who are capable of casting their vote by pressing the EVM button can bring a helper along with them to the voting booth, but the helper cannot enter the voting booth. Wedding-style invitations In a departure from conventional outreach methods, CEO Anurag Agarwal said that wedding-style invitations will be sent to voters across the state. He said the objective of this unique approach is to elevate public participation and infuse a sense of enthusiasm and community spirit into the electoral process.
He said the goal is to achieve 75% voter turnout in Haryana when the voting will be held in the sixth phase on May 25.
The CEO said that the deadline for registration of new voters in the state is April 26. “If any eligible citizen has not yet obtained their voter card, they should get it immediately,” he said. The number of registered voters in the state is 1,99,81,982 (1,06,04,276 male voters and 93,77,244 female voters, 462 transgender voters).