Hi all, I cast my vote about an hour ago. It was a very positive experience. The polling station was one of the schools situated at an eight minutes walk from my house.
The moment the presiding officer saw me, she realized that I was blind and would need special treatment. She initiated the requisite process which involved handing me a Braille sheet and my dad, who was my escort filling out a few forms. The Braille sheet had numbers running along its left side. After the numbers, were the names of the candidates along with their parties. In some places, these names wrapped to the second line. This threw me off initially. Once I read the sheet, I was moved on to the next counter. Here, I had to sign the voters register and produce a photo ID. note: I do not have a voters ID card. I then moved on to the machine itself which was at one end of the room. There was another officer who pressed a button and then I was told to cast my vote. The Braille strip on the voting machine was written in a manner that the actual numbers of the parties had to be read from top to bottom. Be warned, this can get a little confusing. Once I had found the right number, I moved my finger up to the requisite button and pressed it. I got a confirmation beep and that was that. Other notes: 1. This polling station had a voter assistance booth. This was outside the main station. Since polling station was in the school, the booth was just inside the main gate. 2. Mobile phones are not allowed in the actual polling area. It is best that you leave them behind. Pranav To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
