Prisoners' voting bar
Also called: Section 62(5) of the RPA 1951, Prisoners' right to vote, Section 62(5) · Topic: Elections and the Electoral System · NCERT: Class 8, Ch 5 "Universal Franchise and India's Electoral System"; Class 9, Ch 7 "Elections"
Meaning
Section 62(5) of the RPA 1951 says that no one in prison can vote, whether they have been convicted or are an undertrial, meaning a person still awaiting the end of their trial. Anyone in lawful police custody also cannot vote. The one exception is people under preventive detention, who are held to stop a possible crime rather than to punish one. They can vote by postal ballot. The Supreme Court upheld this bar in Anukul Chandra Pradhan (1997). This was possible because voting is a statutory right, a right given by an ordinary law, not a fundamental right.
Example
On polling day, an undertrial held in jail on a theft charge cannot vote, even though they have not been convicted. A person under preventive detention in the same constituency can vote by post.
Don't confuse with
- Disqualification from contesting: This stops a person from standing as a candidate. Section 62(5) stops a person from voting.
Related concepts
- Absentee voter
- Home voting
- Postal ballot
- Service voter
- Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System
- Proxy voting
- Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation
- National Voters' Day