The concept of registration of persons and issue of national identity cards has its roots in the Indo-Lanka Agreement of 1954. This concept was resonated during the regime of Mrs Sirimavo R D Bandaranaike which came into power in 1961 and necessary legislation was initiated. Subsequently the Registration of Persons bill was presented in Parliament for the first time in 1962. However, it was not possible to pass the bill during the term of this Parliament. Later in 1968 Mr.Dudley Senanayake tabled this bill in Parliament without any change and it was passed as Registration of Persons Act No.32 of 1968. The Act came into operation with effect from April 05, 1971 . Allocations were provided in the estimates for the year 1971/1972 to establish a department in order to implement the provisions of this Act, and the Registration of Persons Department commenced functioning from October 01, 1971 .

Implementing the provisions in the Registration of Persons Act No.32 of 1968 the Registration of Persons Department commenced the registration of eligible residents of Sri Lanka above 18 years of age and issuing of identity cards to them in the year 1972. In terms of the amendments made to the Act in 1981 the age for registration of persons was reduced to 16 years. Applicants submit their applications to the Grama Niladharis in their respective areas, and the Grama Niladharis forward the applications to the Registration of Persons Department through Divisional Secretaries. School students and estate residents submit their applications through the Principals of Schools and Superintendents of Estates respectively. Since the establishment of the Registration of Persons Department in 1972 up to 2004 over 24.5 million identity cards have been issued. Issue of identity cards with colour photographs was initiated on July 01,.2005. The Elections (Special Provisions) Act No 14 of 2004 mandated that every voter should produce a valid identity document before casting vote, after a prescribed date. The Registration of Persons Department being the authority which holds the responsibility of issuing national identity cards, therefore, has launched a crash programme to issue identity cards to the persons entitled to cast their votes. It was estimated that there are about 2.5 million voters who have not obtained identity cards hitherto.