In a bid to facilitate the visually challenged voters in exercising their franchise, the Maharashtra State Election Commission has added the Braille script on the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

"The visually-challenged did not have the option of the Braille script so far. But, with the newly designed EVMs, which will have Braille script, blind people across the state would benefit," State Election Commissioner Neela Satyanarayan told PTI.

The EVMs, designed by the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) would also have security features in it, which would be beneficial to the voters and the political parties, she said.

Earlier, the Election Commission of India had done it on a trial basis. "However we want to do it on a regular basis," she added. The EVMs, installed with Braille sign would also be used in all the elections in the state from now onwards, she informed.

Asked about how many visually challenged people would benefit from the move, she said, "We have got the CD of about 15 lakh handicapped people. But, as of now, we don't have the segregation of the blind people. We have to get the data from the concerned agency."

She added that setting up of a separate kiosk for handicapped for online voting is also under consideration.