The Supreme Court on October 31 decided to examine a petition challenging a provision in the election law that imposes a blanket ban on undertrials, persons confined in civil prisons and convicts serving their sentence in jails from casting their votes.
Key points
- A Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) U.U. Lalit issued notice to the Centre, the Union Home Ministry and the Election Commission on a petition filed by a student of the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru.
- The petitioner said that while convicts out on bail could vote, undertrials, whose innocence or guilt has not been conclusively determined, and those confined in civil persons were deprived of their right to vote.
- The petitioner’s advocate argued that Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, mandates that “no person shall vote at any election if he is confined in a prison, whether under a sentence of imprisonment or transportation or otherwise, or is in the lawful custody of the police”.
- He contended that the provision arbitrarily, through the use of “broad language”, disenfranchises a large segment of the population.
- The plea argued that the provision violates the rights to equality, Right to vote (Article 326) and is arbitrary.
