Ballot by braille in polling booths in Bhopal

Elections in India are all about inclusion, the right to vote for all citizens of a certain age.
 
And this means that people with disabilities, including those who are visually impaired cannot be left out.
 
A training session in Bhopal has a huge turnout. And why not? For the first time ever, our polling booths will have ballot papers in Braille.
Voters are being trained in advance, so that on the D-Day they need no assistance.
 
Says visually impaired voter Nitin Kumar Sarathe: "We can finally exercise our right. Earlier we had to depend on others.

'Earlier we were dependent on the Election officer. It is possible they never cast the vote we asked them to.''
 
Election Commission has recommended all districts to introduce Braille enabled voting in at least 10 polling booths in urban areas.
 
Bhopal is one of the rare cities where all 1,150 polling booths in the urban areas are Braille-enable.
 
Shiv Shekhar, the Collector of Bhopal, says: ''To bring them into the mainstream district administration has decided to go for Braille balloting in every poll station of the urban areas.''
 
This small step by the Election Commission is a giant leap for the rights of the disabled.