Even though all systems of government have merits and demerits, democracy is the most preferred system of modern world. The most important aspect of democracy is the provision of adult franchise which ensures that any citizen who has attained a predetermined age (18 years in India) can cast his vote in favour of a contesting candidate of his choice. The authorities responsible for conducting elections in a free and fair manner often find the problem of impersonation a very difficult one. In India, which is the world’s largest democracy, voter identity cards have been issued by the Election Commission to check the problem of bogus voters. By making the use of such identity cards mandatory in elections, the problem of impersonation has been reduced to a large extent. But the present system is not fool proof.
I’ll cite certain situations in which even the identity card is of no use in preventing impersonation.
