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Braille comes as boon for blind voters 8 May 2009, 0511 hrs IST, Ashis Poddar, TNN  KRISHNAGAR: Five visually impaired voters were among the first to cast their vote with the help of Braille at the Krishnagar Academy around 7 am on Thursday, said Nadia district magistrate Onkar Singh Meena.  According to a list of the Nadia district administration, there are 23 visually impaired voters, who can read via Braille, district social welfare officer Partha Pratim Dasgupta said. He met the presiding officers of the Krishnagar Lok Sabha seat on Wednesday night to discuss about the blind voters.  The blind voters were contacted through four blind schools Helen Keller Smrity Vidya Mandir, Nabadwip APC Blind School, Paschim Banga Andha Alok Samity in Kalyani and Karimpur Social Welfare Society in the district. The administration got two from Karimpur, 27 from the Hellen Keller school, 12 from Nabadwip and 23 from the Paschim Banga Andha Alok Samity in Kalyani. Among them, about 50 knew Braille, Meena said. The blind voters were explained by the social welfare officer about how to cast their vote using Braille.  So far, they had been voting with the help of assistants despite being familiar with Braille. But this is the first time they got the opportunity to vote on their own, Dasgupta said. As many as 25 visually impaired people voted, according to information available with him around 5 pm, he added. Meena said it was a great achievement to allow the visually impaired to vote via Braille. The polling personnel were also trained to take the vote on Braille.  The names of the candidates as well as their respective parties were all mentioned in Bengali in Braille.