NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre, the Election Commission of India (ECI) and all states on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking implementation of fingerprint and iris-based biometric identification of voters at polling stations to curb electoral malpractices.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi passed the order while hearing a petition filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay.
Issuing a notice, the CJI Kant-led Bench made it clear that the relief sought in the petition cannot be considered for the ensuing Assembly elections in certain states.
“Prima facie, the nature of reliefs cannot be considered for the ensuing elections in some of the states. However, whether such a recourse deserves to be followed for the next parliamentary elections and/or elections of state legislatures needs to be examined, ” the apex court said.
During the hearing, the CJI Kant-led Bench remarked that implementation of such a mechanism would require “major changes in rules” and entail a “huge financial burden”.