EC to provide Braille photo ID cards to blind voters
New Delhi, July 4: The Election Commission (EC) will provide Braille photo ID cards to visually challenged voters across the country, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) O.P. Rawat said here on Wednesday as he handed out token Braille ID cards to two persons at an event here.
The photo voter slips would also be made in accessible formats for them, he said.
Addressing the concluding session of a two-day event on inclusive elections, Rawat also announced that the Commission has decided to establish auxiliary polling stations for persons with disabilities during elections.
He said Disability Coordinators would be appointed at the levels of Assembly constituencies, districts and states.
He said a mobile app would be developed in-house for the persons with disabilities to facilitate them participate fully in the election processes.
He said that they would be permitted to avail of public transport for free along with their attendants on the day of polling.
For hearing impaired voters, sign language windows will be established in all audio-visual training and awareness contents of the commission.
Rawat announced that a new unit called Accessible Division would be established in the ECI-run International Institute of Democracy and Electoral Management in Delhi.
Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said that technology has the capability to fill the gaps and it shall be explored to its fullest potential.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Muslim leaders submit memorandum to JPC member Imran Masood against Waqf Bill
Jaipur (PTI): A delegation of Muslim leaders associated with the Congress met party MP Imran Masood, who is a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, in Ajmer on Sunday and submitted a memorandum against the provisions of the bill.
The bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on August 8 and referred to a joint parliamentary panel after a heated debate. The 31-member panel will submit its report by the next session of Parliament.
While the government has asserted that the proposed law did not intend to interfere with the functioning of mosques, the opposition called it targeting of Muslims and an attack on the Constitution.
The delegation of Muslim leaders met Masood, who was on a visit to Ajmer, and said the members of the community are opposed to the amendments because Waqf is a religious matter of the Muslims.
"We will not allow the government to interfere in our religious matters. The Constitution allows us to function according to our religion. The truth is that the government's intentions are not right," stated the memorandum addressed to the JPC's head Jagdambika Pal.
"Waqf is a completely religious matter and interference in it will not be right," it said.
The delegation included Ghulam Mustafa Chishti, Muzaffar Bharti, Rab Nawaz Jafri, Manzoor Ali, Ashraf Buland Khan, Ajmat Khan and Wahid Mohammad.
