Assembly Elections 2021: Braille voter slips to be provided for visually-impaired electors; all you need to know

The upcoming 2021 Assembly election scheduled to begin from 27 March will be held in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry. While voter information slips (VIS) will be used for the first time in these elections, the Election Commission will issue Braille voter information slips for electors who have visual impairment or are blind.

What are voter information slips?
The Election Commission announced in February that voter information slips will replace photo voter slips and will be issued to electors at least five days prior to the date of poll. Voter information slips will include details like polling station information, date and time of poll, etc, but not have the photograph of the elector.

‘Accessible voter slips’
Visually-challenged electors will be given accessible voter information slips with Braille features in addition to the voter information slips. The poll panel’s release dated 26 Februrary 2021 said that these slips were being provided “to ensure ease of participation and active engagement of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) in the election process”.

It has to be noted that voter slips cannot be used by the voters as their identity proof. For identification at the polling station, the voters should present their Elector’s Photo Identity Card (EPIC) or any of the following EC-approved identification documents:
1. Aadhar card
2. MNREGA job card
3. Passbooks with photograph issued by bank or post office
4. Health insurance smart card issued under the scheme of Ministry of Labour
5. Driving license
6. PAN card
7. Smart card issued by Registrar General of India (RGI) under National Population Register (NPR)
8. Indian passport
9. Pension document with photograph
10. Service Identity Cards with photograph issued to employees by central/state, government/PSUs/public limited companies
11. Official identity cards issued to MPs/MLAs/MLCs

The upcoming Assembly elections for the four states and one Union Territory will be held in eight phases from 27 March to 29 April. The counting of votes will be held on 2 May.