The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Central government on a public interest litigation which challenges its power under Section 62(5) of the Representation of People Act prohibiting a prisoner to cast his vote.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India UU Lalit and Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Justice Hima Kohli issued notice on the plea which was filed through advocate Zoheb Hossain and has listed the matter for hearing on December 29, 2022.
The public interest litigation (PIL) was filed way back in 2019 by one Aditya Prasanna Bhattacharya, who was then a Law student at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore in his third year.
The petitioner had pointed out that the word used in Section 62(5) of Representation of People Act uses ‘confinement’ as the yardstick which has created lot of irregularities.
As per the Section 62(5) any person who has confined to a prison has been deprived of his right to vote at any election.
As per the provision no person shall vote at any election if he is confined in a prison, whether under a sentence of imprisonment or in the lawful custody of the police.
The PIL adds that the convicts who have been sentenced to imprisonment, even under-trials whose innocence or guilt is yet to be decided, are deprived of their right to vote as they too are confined in prison although they have not been sentenced to imprisonment.
The petition however says that anomaly lies as the convict imprisoned as part of the sentence can still cast vote if released on bail as such a person is not per se confined in prison.
The PIL further mention that a person detained in civil prison is also deprived of the right to vote, the petition stated, as a result of the overly broad language in the provision, which uses confinement.
The provision has put on a blanket ban, as it lacks any kind of reasonable classification based on the nature of the crime committed as per the PIL.
This lack of classification is problem to the fundamental right to equality under Article 14.