The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the Centre and the Election Commission on a PIL challenging the validity of a provision of the Represent𝓰ation of People Act which bars a prisoner from voting. The bench has fixed the PIL for further hearing on December 29.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and j🌊ustices S Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi took note of the submissions of lawyer Zoheb Hossain and issued notices to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) an❀d the poll panel.
Representation of People Act prohibits voting for jailed persons
The plea was filed in 2019 by Aditya Prasanna Bhattacharya, then a student of the National Law Univer💝sity, challenging the Constitutional validity of section 62(5) of the Representation of People Act which prohibits a jailed person from casting vote in elections.
"No person shall vote at any election if he is confined in a prison, whether under a s🦂entence 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," reads the impugned provision of the Act.
(With inputs from PTI)
