To help the visually impaired voters cast their ballot, the Haryana state election department plans to install Braille script compliant electronic voting machines (EVMs) for the first time. The assembly elections, to be held on October 13, will have such EVMs at the 13,524-odd polling stations.
Sajjan Singh, chief electoral officer, Haryana, told FE, ?This is the first time that EVMs will have encryptions of Braille serial number and Braille ballot paper for the visually impaired people of the state. As of now, 16,227 control units (of the EVM) and 18,897 ballot units are required. We already have 27,368 control units and 25,936 ballot units.?
The election department has also introduced a new way for identification of voters who do not have voter ID cards.
?So far voters without ID cards could use 13 documents prescribed by the election commission as an alternative for identification. Now the head of a family, who has a valid voter ID card, can also identify his family members even without those 13 documents. This is the first time such a thing has been allowed in the state,? said Singh.
Before the parliamentary elections, Haryana had around 1.21 crore registered voters (as on April 18, 2009). But after complaints of names being left out, around 10,94,273 new voters have been added to the electoral rolls by the department.
As per the figures dispatched on September 25, 2009, about 1.31 crore voters will exercise their voting right on October 13. ?The new voters have received their ID cards and have got their photos added to the photo electoral rolls,? said Singh.
He added, ?We have around 67,000 employees available for election duty with around 64,000 personnel from the Central Paramilitary Forces. As per election commission guidelines, we have to deploy certain safety measures (video camera/CPF officials etc) at each polling station. Of the total 13,524 polling stations, 9,019 are regarded as vulnerable.?
Compared to the Haryana assembly elections of 2005 when a total of 983 candidates contested from 90 seats, there are 1,222 candidates this time. A total of 1,874 nominations were filed this year compared to 1,418 in 2005. While the number of female candidates who filed nominations was was much higher this year than in 2005 (261 against 150), after rejections and withdrawls only 68 remain in the fray (against 60 in 2005).
This year 1,154 male candidates are contesting, against 923 in 2005. The assembly elections are expected to cost the state exchequer around Rs 12-14 crore.