Apex Court Issues Notice In PIL Challenging Sec 62(5) of RP Act,1951 Denying Prisoners, Under trials Right To Vote
(Judicial Quest News Network)
The Apex Court on Monday issued notice to the Central government and Election Commission of India (ECI) on a petition which challenged Validity of section 62 (5) of the representation of People Act, 1951. The section restricts any person confined in a prison from voting.
Section 62 Right to vote :-
(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 petition said the impugned section, which is in the nature of a blanket ban on the right to vote, does not envisage any classification between those who are imprisoned and those who are not, arbitrarily deprives every prisoner of their right to vote, irrespective of the offence they have been convicted for, or the duration of the sentence which has been imposed on them.
The Notice was issued by the bench of the CJI UU Lalit.Justice Ravindra Bhatt and justice Bala Trivedi
Further it is stated that section 62 (5) of the Representation of People Act, 1951 is disproportionate, unreasonable, and discriminatory, According to the petition, due to the provisions overly broad, language even those detained in civil prisons are denied the right to vote. Resultantly there is no logical classification based on the purpose of the imprisonment.
It is further claimed that right to vote is a constitutional right under Article 326 of the Constitution, as a result any restriction on such a right must base on permissible constraints found within the Constitution itself and in the absence of such constraint, the restriction in question is ultra vires the Constitution.
The petitioner further said “that The impugned provision operates in the nature of a blanket ban, as it lacks any kind of reasonable classification based on the nature of the crime committed or the duration of the sentence imposed (unlike several other jurisdictions such as South Africa, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Greece, Canada et al). This lack of classification is anathema to the fundamental right to equality under Article 14. “
The petition is filed by a Law Student Aditya Prasanna Bhatacharya and represented by Advocate Zoheb Hussain
The matter has been listed for Dec, 9, 2022.
