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![Question 1 — ECI reforms for inclusive voting - Elections - [Teachoo] - Questions at the end of the chapter](https://cdn.teachoo.com/476054b6-6d4c-42c8-bf56-9ea7062f3d25/voting-from-home.jpg)
Voting from home
What reforms have been introduced by the ECI to make voting more inclusive for the following groups?
Show Answer
Group
What the ECI provides
a. People with Disabilities
Ramps and ground-floor booths; wheelchairs on request; priority entry; Braille voter slips and a Braille ballot unit; a companion allowed inside; free transport; volunteers; the Saksham facility for booking help; home voting for those with 40% benchmark disability
b. Service Voters
They vote by postal ballot, sent through ETPBS. Some may instead appoint a proxy to vote for them in their home constituency
c. Senior Citizens above 85
Home voting by postal ballot, applied for in Form 12D. A polling team visits the house, and the visit is videographed. It is optional; they may still vote at the booth
d. Prisoners
No reform. Section 62(5) of RPA 1951 bars anyone confined in prison or in police custody from voting. This covers convicts and undertrials alike. Their name stays on the electoral roll; only the vote is barred
e. Persons in preventive detention
They CAN vote. They are exempted by the proviso to Section 62(5), and vote by postal ballot from the place of detention
- The key contrast is between (d) and (e).
- A person in prison as a convict or an undertrial cannot vote at all.
- A person under preventive detention can vote, by post.
