Sri Lanka’s Cabinet has approved a proposal by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to remove the legal requirement of marking voters with indelible ink during elections.
Since 2004, voters have been required to present a valid identity card and have their finger marked with indelible ink as a safeguard against multiple voting. However, the government noted that the use of two separate verification methods to achieve the same objective has affected efficiency at polling stations and resulted in additional costs.
Taking these factors into consideration, the Cabinet approved amendments to five election-related laws to abolish the indelible ink requirement while retaining the mandatory verification of voters through valid identity cards.
