Braille ballot papers being prepared for polling day in Chandigarh

Chandigarh [India], May 22 (ANI): Braille ballot papers are being prepared following instructions from the Election Commission of India to enable visually impaired people to take part in the election process and cast their votes for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Punjab and Chandigarh.

Chandigarh and Punjab will vote on June 1 in the final and seventh phases of the general elections.

Braille press in charge at the Institute for Blind, Vishwajeet, told ANI that they have been receiving such orders for the last 15 years during the election season in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.

“We have been receiving such orders for the last 10-15 years whenever there is an election in Punjab, Haryana or Chandigarh. This helps visually impaired people cast their votes independently… This ballot paper will go to every booth. we made all these ballot papers by keeping in mind the instructions that are there from the Election Commission of India…,” he said.

“There is an order of 27, 000 ballot papers from Punjab. The administration of the Union Territory of Chandigarh has also given an order of 2100 for their 7,000 booths,” Vishwajeet added.

Notably, in Punjab, voting for its 13 seats will take place in a single phase, with the seventh and final phase on June 1 seeing voting in Ludhiana, Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Khadoor Sahib, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Nandpur Sahib, Fatehgarh Sahib, Faridkot, Firozpur, Bathinda, Sangrur, and Patiala constituencies.

The first five phases of polling were held on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13 and May 20.

The next two rounds of voting will be held on May 25 and June 1.

The 2024 Lok Sabha elections are being held in seven phases, in a six-week marathon running from April 19 to June 1. The counting and results will be announced on June 4.