Can prisoners be allowed to vote? Delhi high court has sought the stand of the Centre, Election Commission and prison authorities in the capital on a plea seeking to grant and facilitate voting rights to all people lodged in jails across the country. Currently, once a citizen goes to jail, he loses voting rights except in the case of detenues, who form a separate class of inmates.
The public interest litigation was filed by three students of Galgotias University, Greater Noida – Praveen Kumar Chaudhary, Atul Kumar Dubey and Prerna Singh.
In the plea, the students have contended that denial of voting rights has translated into ostracisation of the prisoners from the mainstream political decision making of the world’s largest democracy and urged the court to intervene.
The students maintain that people in any kind of confinement, either in jails or police stations or at any other place, should be allowed to vote and requisite facilities for the same should be made available. “The voting restriction imposed on the prisoners is contrary to freedom of expression, which is the live wire of democracy,” said the plea.
It is the Petitioner’s stance that Section 62(5) of the Act is violative of Articles 14, 19(1) (a) and 21 of Constitution of India as it is arbitrary, unreasonable and unfair.
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