‘Needs to be examined’: SC seeks Centre, ECI’s response on biometric voting plea

The Supreme Court on Monday sought response from the Central government and the Election Commission of India (ECI) on a plea seeking finger and Iris-based biometric identification of the voters at the polling booth at the time of polling.

While making it clear that the finger and Iris biometric identification of the voters was not possible in the ongoing elections to five state assemblies, a Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, however said the issue can be examined to be followed in the future elections.

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Issuing notice, the court in its order said, “Finger and Iris Biometric identification cannot be considered for the ensuing elections. Whether such recourse deserves to be followed in the next parliamentary or State assembly election needs to be examined.”

As the petitioner advocate referred to a provision under which biometric identification can be adopted to purge the ills that affect the electoral process, including duplicate voters and impersonation, the bench said, “Anything for the fairness of the election, the power should be there, it may not be in these five states, but in the next elections in 2027 …”

However, the Bench had reservations on intervention at this stage, saying that if the Election Commission of India goes with the biometric identification of the voters at the polling booth, and the Ministry of Finance may decline finances, at this stage “We come into the picture.”