SC notice to Centre, EC on finger, iris verification at polling booths

The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the Centre the Election Commission and others on a plea proposing the implementation of a finger and iris biometric identification system at polling stations to prevent duplicate votingSupreme Court agrees to examine pleaWhile agreeing to hear the plea a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi made it clear that the prayer sought in the petition cannot be considered for the ongoing state Assembly elections in some statesldquoHowever whether such a recourse deserves to be followed before the next parliamentary election andor state Assembly elections needs to be examined Issue noticerdquo the bench said PTI reportedNotices issued to Centre EC statesThe top court issued notice to the Centre the poll panel and several states seeking their responses to the plea filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar UpadhyayUpadhyay who appeared in person told the bench that the measures sought in the plea would help prevent bribery and proxy voting the news agency reportedThe bench observed that implementing such a system would require major changes to existing rules and could entail a significant financial burdenPlea seeks biometric voter authenticationThe plea stated that the poll panel by using its plenary powers under Article 324 may implement finger and irisbased biometric authentication to strengthen voter identification and eliminate bribery undue influence impersonation duplicate voting and ghost votingDuring the hearing Upadhyay clarified that his plea was not related to the ongoing Assembly elections in five stateslsquoOne Citizen One Votersquo argumentThe petition argued that adopting finger and iris biometric verification at polling booths would ensure that only genuine and duly registered electors are allowed to cast their votesldquoThe injury to citizens is extremely large as bribery undue influence impersonation duplicate voting and ghost voting still affect the purity and integrity of the electoral processrdquo it submitted PTI reportedldquoTherefore to uphold the constitutional mandate of free and fair elections the Election Commission of India may consider implementing finger and iris biometric authentication at polling booths in upcoming Assembly electionsrdquo the plea saidConcerns over current voter ID systemIt further claimed that voter identification currently relies on voter ID cards and manual verification which are susceptible to misuse due to outdated photographs clerical errors and the lack of realtime validationldquoThis creates scope for impersonation and multiple voting by the same individual or by unauthorised persons Finger and iris biometric authentication being unique to each individual would eliminate duplication and ghost voting and ensure strict compliance with lsquoOne Citizen One Voterdquo it saidMigratory population and data gapsThe plea also highlighted that a significant portion of the population is migratory often leading to inconsistencies in electoral rolls across constituenciesIt added that biometric identification enables realtime authentication creating a verifiable digital record of voter verification at polling boothsThe plea noted that the Aadhaar system implemented by the Unique Identification Authority of India has successfully established a robust biometric identity framework in the countryldquoIts use in sectors such as banking and welfare scheme delivery has significantly reduced fraud and ensured accurate identification Extending similar biometric verification to elections would be a logical and effective steprdquo it saidWith PTI inputs