Election Commission asks Finance Ministry not to use indelible ink in banks in view of upcoming elections

New Delhi: Election Commission writes to Finance ministry to not use indelible ink in banks as it will create problem in the upcoming elections. The Election Commission raised the concern as several states will be going to polls, and the use of indelible ink in banks is one of major points to mark citizens who have already voted. The government on Tuesday had announced the use of indelible ink, to prevent people from making more than the permissible number of times cash withdrawal from bank counters. It was found that in many places the same set of people were visiting to get cash and were going from one branch to another. As a result of which, the benefit of withdrawal was getting restricted to a few people. To prevent this, indelible ink was brought to use at the cash counters in selected metro cities. Furthermore, to avoid confusion at polling booths, the Finance Ministry had asked the banks to mark the right-hand index finger of customers to prevent the same person from exchanging currency notes multiple times and leave the other people waiting. Following which, earlier on Wednesday,  the Election Commission had asked the Finance Ministry to ensure that the marking of the index fingers of people exchanging demonetised notes at the banks was done without affecting their right to vote in polls, such as the dozen by-elections scheduled on Saturday. But now the election commission has written to the finance ministry to not use indelible ink at all, in view of the current bye-elections and upcoming general elections to Legislative assemblies of key states including Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.