The Supreme Court has directed the Union government and the Election Commission of India to file their responses to a petition seeking biometric identification at polling stations to prevent electoral fraud.
The plea, filed by BJP-affiliated lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay, alleged that elections witness irregularities such as impersonation and double voting. It argued that the present system relies on voter ID cards and manual verification, which can be misused due to outdated photographs, spelling errors and the lack of real-time authentication.
According to the petition, applying indelible ink on voters’ fingers alone is not sufficient to stop malpractice. It urged the use of fingerprint and iris-based biometric verification at the time of voting to eliminate impersonation, duplicate voting and fake votes.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Suryakant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi noted that with Assembly elections underway in some states, the request could not be examined immediately. However, it said the need for such a system should be studied ahead of the next Lok Sabha or Assembly elections.
The court issued notices to the Centre, the Election Commission and several states, seeking their replies on the matter.
