Web a11y in ECI accessibility PIL

[Vaishnavi Jayakumar]

ECI's latest submission in the Election accessibility PIL. The web / app audit was commissioned in November 2025, this seems like an inordinate amount of time and hedging.

Also since still no solution for deaf-blind and CAPTCHA, I would dispute the GIGW 2 compliance claim.

Is the audio CAPTCHA introduced only now for blind, only workable or fully compliant? Is an experienced screen reader user somehow able to make things work or is it as per code? 🔽

Extract from recent ECI affidavit in ECI Accessibility PIL at MHC : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QrkgIznWuJ8XvTONZszCm_X8NaUvSFLJ/view?usp=drivesdk

"14. I respectfully submit that in this regard, the first two steps as part of the GIGW testing process namely, the application submission and the document review phases have been completed. Thereafter, the 3rd step pertaining to

the testing is under process. So far the first round of recommendations provided by the STQC Directorate pertaining to certain UI//UX changes are being assessed for technical feasibility. Once the relevant changes are implemented, the team will conduct quality checks in line with the software development life cycle process. Thereafter, the updates will be deployed on the live web applications.

15. I respectfully submit that subsequently, the IT Department of the Election Commission and the Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification team, Ajmer, have begun a comprehensive audit of the entire web application of the Election Commission

16. I respectfully submit that this will be a continuous and thorough process that will take considerable time given the complexity, scale and sensitivity of the ECI web application. The entire exercise is technical in nature and is being carried out by technical experts from both the IT Department of the Election Commission and the STQC Directorate.

17.1 respectfully submit that in any event the Election Commission’s IT Platforms are compliant with GIGW 2.0 Norms and cater to the requirements of persons with disabilities on both mobile and desktop applications. What remains is the audit/certification process and implementation of recommendations from the Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification Directorate, maybe present in the ECI website, for

which necessary steps as explained above are already taken. The Certification process will be followed with the agencies and completed

shortly, which may take a little while to get completed."

The PIL tracker is at this link : 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/13MRjJ17qH0npQYovrdgVe48JBGJy3TPzk1li42dc4gM/edit?usp=drivesdk