The decision to discontinue the use of indelible ink to mark voters during elections could save around Rs. 100 million in public funds per election, the Executive Director of the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), Rohana Hettiarachchi, said on Wednesday (24).

Speaking at a media briefing, Hettiarachchi welcomed the move, describing it as a positive step that had been discussed for years among election stakeholders, political parties and civil society organizations.He said eliminating the use of indelible ink would significantly reduce costs associated with importing the ink, distributing it and managing related administrative processes, resulting in lower election expenditure.Hettiarachchi noted that the mandatory use of national identity cards and advances in technology used to prepare electoral registers have strengthened voter verification, making impersonation and fraudulent voting far less likely.He said the long-standing practice of applying indelible ink had become less necessary under the current electoral system due to improved safeguards against electoral fraud.