Provide proper facilities for the disabled and aged voters at Tamil Nadu, Puducherry polling stations: HC

The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the governments of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry to ensure strict implementation of instructions issued by the commission on August 3, 2023, to encourage persons with disabilities and the senior citizens to vote in large numbers.

The First Division Bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G. Arul Murugan suo motu impleaded the Chief Secretaries of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry as respondents to a public interest litigation petition, and called for compliance report from both the officers by the last week of January 2026.

The judges pointed out that the ECI had issued elaborate instructions to the Chief Electoral Officers of all States and Union Territories in the country in 2023 with respect to the facilities to be provided to persons with disabilities and the senior citizens for their enrolment and ease of voting at the polling booths.

As per the 2023 instructions, the CEOs must first commence identification, enrolment and mapping of persons with disabilities by collecting data from the relevant government departments in order to ensure that no eligible voter among them gets left behind. The CEOs must also prepare polling station wise data indicating the type of disability suffered by the voters.

Further, nodal officers must be appointed to ensure availability of basic facilities to the persons with disabilities and such voters must be given preference at the polling booths, voter assistance booths, facilitation centres, offices of the District Election Officers, Elecroral Registration Officers, Returning Officers and so on. Efforts must be taken to ensure that they do not face any inconvenience, the instructions read.

On issues related to creation of infrastructure and physical accessibility, the instructions required polling booths to be located on the ground floor of the buildings and due consideration to be given to the topography and ease of travel of electors with disabilities. Stress was laid on ensuring proper approach roads to polling stations, sufficient vehicle parking facility for the disabled and adequate space for movement of wheelchairs.

It was also made clear that permanent ramps with a gradient not exceeding 1:12 should be provided at polling stations. Referring to this requirement in particular, the Chief Justice’s Bench made it clear that establishment of temporary ramps by laying wooden planks would not be acceptable and that the governments of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry must ensure permanent ramps in all public buildings used as polling stations.

The Bench pointed out that the instructions also insist upon providing wheel chairs in select polling stations and required the officials to inform the persons with disabilities as well as senior citizens about the availability of such a facility at those stations. Such voters must be given priority in exercising their franchise and if required, a separate queue must be created for them.

The 2023 instructions of the ECI required the CEOs to ensure that the persons with disabilities and the senior citizens were provided with free passes for using public transport on the day of polling. “If public transport is not available, then arrangements for private vehicles for free pick up and drop facility from their residence to polling booth may be made,” the instructions read.

Apart from these, the Division Bench also directed the ECI to report progress by the next date of hearing on a request made by it to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on November 14, 2025 to conduct an audit of its web portals and mobile applications in order to find out if they were universally accessible.