Nagpur: A doctor Mumbai has attracted the attention of the Indian Election Commission (ECI) to blind voter rights to use their franchise autonomously and independently.
In a letter to ECI, Dr.
Akshay Bajad proposed the conversion system ‘Image-Text To Speech’ (ITTS) introduced in the Electronic Voting Machine (EVMS) which will allow blind voters to verify their voices.
ITTS is a simple, cheap and proven technology that provides reasonable accommodation to be challenged visually, in the process of bringing them equivalent to other voters, he said.
Dr.
Bajad also continued the same email to the Ministry of Law and Justice and Chair of the Commissioner for people with disabilities four months ago.
The Association for Democrat Reform (ADR) and the National Association for the Blind (NAB) has appreciated its initiative and forwards advice to ECI.
However, ECI has not yet responded.
Quoting the 2011 census, the 31-year-old doctor said there were around 2.68 disabled people in India, where around 50 was blind.
“Such voters must give their voices only with the help of a friend.
The voting assisted, while not secret and independent, still allows voters to participate in the selection process.
However, in the current voting system through EVMS, there is no way to find out Whether people who help indeed play their voices for candidates chosen by voters with disabilities in seeing, “said Dr.
Bajad.
He said for the convenience of such voters, there was a sign of Braille on the EVM unit.
On the right side along the Vote Candidates button, Digit 1 to 16 arises with braille letters for their guidance.
“However, even though the blind voter can press the button, he cannot ensure the actual selection.
Voters are not sure whether the sound is recorded or not, and whether it supports candidates to who is meant for.
Moreover, not everyone with such disability understand Braille,” he said .
Describing ITTS, Doctor Ayurvedic says the basic idea behind a stand-alone real-time system proposed is to capture the image slip image produced by the printer in VVPat, extract the text from it and turn it into a saying that can be heard through headphones.
“ITTS devices must be repaired in a VVPat machine in such a way that the voter view through the transparent window of the engine is still unobstructed and the printed paper slip is displayed for seven seconds available in the field of display of the camera lens.
Externally, it requires a set of headphones with volume control so that voters Blind can listen to the choice of his choice, “he said.