CHENNAI: The Madras High Court, on Wednesday, dismissed a PIL seeking directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to introduce audio-enabled Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) for visually impaired voters in the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.
The petitioner organisation Nethrodaya, in its PIL, submitted that as per the 2011 Census, there were 1,27,405 visually impaired persons in Tamil Nadu. To make the voting process more accessible and inclusive for visually impaired voters, the petitioner proposed introducing audio-enabled VVPAT, which would provide audio confirmation of the selected candidate after the vote is cast, instead of relying solely on visual verification.
Through this system, an audio message would be played through headphones and apart from the visually impaired, it could be used for independent verification by the elderly, illiterate, mobility-impaired, and other print-disabled voters, it said.
Pointing out that the system could preserve secrecy and increase voter confidence and trust in the electoral process, it insisted that the court direct the ECI to consider the representation.
When the case came up for hearing, the Bench comprising Chief Justice SA Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan noted that as the election process had already commenced, the procedure could not be modified.
It advised the petitioner to make a representation after the election. "After the election, if you come, we will definitely direct them to consider your representation. It's a good ground," it orally remarked and dismissed the petition.