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- A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the law which bars undertrials and convicts from voting.
- Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act,1951 says 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 lawful custody of the police.This provision exempts a person held under preventive detention and a person out on bail.
- The petitioner points out that the section uses ‘confined’ as the yardstick which has created several anomalies.The petition highlights how this section sees both an undertrial and a convicted person equally.
- The undertrial guilt is yet to be proved in a court.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.However,a person out on bail is allowed to cast his vote.
- The petitioner has argued that the provision violates (a)Article 326 of the Constitution which says that the right to vote is a Constitutional right (b)Right to equality guaranteed under Article 14 of the Constitution as it was discriminatory.
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