• A petition has been filed in Supreme Court challenging the Section 62(5) of the Representation of People Act, 1951 (RP Act).  This provision prohibits a person confined in a prison from casting his/her vote.

About Section Section 62(5):

• No person shall vote at any election is 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:
• Provided that nothing in this sub-section shall apply to a person subjected to preventive detention under any law for the time being in force.The petitioner points out that the wording of the section uses “confinement” as the yardstick thereby creating several anomalies.
• In addition to convicts who have been sentenced to a particular period of imprisonment, even under-trials, whose innocence or guilt has not been conclusively determined, are deprived of their right to vote, as they too are confined in prison, although they have not been sentenced to imprisonment.
• However, a convict who has been imprisoned as part of her sentence can still cast her vote if she is released on bail. This is because such a person is not per se confined in prison.

Analysis:

• The voting ban is criticised on the ground that it makes no offence-based or sentence-based classification — that is, prisoners are debarred from voting irrespective of the gravity of the offence they have committed, or the length of their sentence. It also makes no distinction between convicted prisoners, undertrials, and those in lawful police custody.
• Besides, a person is innocent until proven guilty by law. Despite this, it denies an undertrial the right to vote but allows a detainee the same.
• The provision also violates the rights to equality, vote (Article 326) and is arbitrary. It is not a reasonable restriction.
• Undertrials should be allowed to vote. This is because there are many people, awaiting trial, who have spent more time in prison than the actual term their alleged crime merits. Their numbers are much bigger than convicts.