The Bar Council of Punjab & Haryana is now India’s first state bar council (SBC) to have photo identification on its electoral rolls to curb bogus voting. The Bar Council of India (BCI) has asked other state bar councils to follow suit, for “fair and transparent” elections.

Till now the voter list contained only the names, addresses and enrolment number of voting advocates, according to the Indian Express. “It was observed that lot of bogus voting was taking place in the absence of photographs of the lawyers,” claimed the SBC’s chairman Minderjit Yadav.

He also told the paper that honorarium fees of Rs 5,000 per month had been earmarked for “budding lawyers who lack financial means at the start of their career”. A pension for lawyers above 65 years of age was in the process of being worked out.

It was observed that lot of bogus voting was taking place in the absence of photographs of the lawyers.