Colombo: Sri Lanka has decided to discontinue the use of indelible ink to mark voters during elections, with authorities citing additional costs and unnecessary delays in the voting process associated with it.
Voters are currently required to submit their national identity card and are subject to indelible ink marking of a finger as measures to prevent multiple voting by any registered voter.
According to a cabinet note, the dual voter identification procedure at polling stations causes unnecessary delays and costs.
Therefore, the election laws governing all elections — presidential, parliamentary, provincial council, local council and national referenda — would be amended to remove the indelible ink requirement to vote in elections, it said.
The next election on schedule is the presidential election in late 2029.
However, calls to hold the provincial council election, postponed since 2018, are growing stronger in the island nation.
