The Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat on Wednesday announced that the Commission has decided to establish auxiliary polling stations for the people with disabilities (PwDs) during elections. The CEC said that disability coordinators would be appointed at the levels of assembly constituencies, districts and States.

CEC Rawat also announced that a new unit called Accessible Division would be established in the ECI-run International Institute of Democracy and Electoral Management (IIDEM) in the national capital. Speaking at the concluding session of the two days National Level Consultations on Accessible Elections, Rawat said that accessibility Master Trainers would also be employed to provide cascaded trainings for the welfare of the PwDs.

The CEC further informed The People with Disabilities (PwDs) would be permitted to avail public transport along with their attendants on the day of polling. The ECI would make available all its election related awareness materials in accessible formats for the PwDs. The photo voter slips would also be made in accessible formats for them. For the use of the hearing impaired voters, sign language windows will be established in all audio-visual training and awareness contents of the Commission.

The CEC said that that a mobile app would be developed in-house for the PwDs to facilitate them participate fully in election processes.
Source: https://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/ec-to-establish-auxiliary-polling-stations-for-people-with-disabilities.html