Denial of Right to Vote to the Prisoners in India: A Critical Analysis

This paper assesses the legislative policy in India on the right of prisoners to vote. Being a democratic country, there is always an increasing recognition of the right to vote in India at national and local level. Article 326 of the Constitution of India provides for the adult suffrage which means every person who has completed the age of eighteen years is entitled to vote at an election subject to disqualifications as provided by the statute. Despite that, India has imposed a blanket ban on the voting right of the prisoners under Section 62 (5) of the Representation of People Act, 1951. By enacting this provision India in fact opted for criminal disenfranchisement. The decisions of the Courts in India are also in favour of this indiscriminate criminal disenfranchisement law. This paper critically examines the criminal disenfranchisement law in India by analyzing International instruments and law of the other countries on this topic. It also recommends that India should change its legislative policy regarding criminal disenfranchisement by removing blanket ban on the voting right of the incarcerated population.