SC notice to Centre, EC on plea to implement finger, iris biometric system at polling stations

The Supreme Court of India agreed to examine a plea seeking biometric voter identification at polling stations, directing responses from the Election Commission of India and Centre, while clarifying it won’t apply to ongoing state Assembly elections

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a plea seeking direction to the Election Commission to implement finger and iris biometric identification system at polling stations to prevent duplicate voting.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi made clear that the prayer sought in the plea can’t be considered for the current state Assembly elections in some states.

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“However, whether such a recourse deserves to be followed before the next parliamentary election and/or state assembly elections needs to be examined. Issue notice,” the bench said.

The top court sought responses from the Centre, the poll panel and several other states on the plea filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay.

“The injury to citizens is extremely large as bribery, undue influence, personation, duplicate voting and ghost voting still affects the purity and integrity of the electoral process,” the plea submitted.