New Delhi: The Supreme Court has summoned the Centre and the Election Commission on a PIL challenging the validity of a provision of the Representation of the People Act. A bench of Chief Justice (CJI) Uday Umesh Lalit, Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Justice Bela M Trivedi issued a notice to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Election Commission. During the hearing of the case on Monday (October 31), advocate Zoheb Hussain argued on the petition.

The PIL has been filed on behalf of Aditya Prasanna Bhattacharya, a student of National Law University. It challenges the constitutional validity of Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, which bars a jailed person from voting in an election. The bench posted the PIL for further hearing on December 29. According to Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, a person jailed or in police custody by judicial order does not have the right to vote. Such persons can vote only if they are detained in prohibitory orders. Only a detained person is allowed to vote in the election.  

In 2019, the Delhi High Court held in Praveen Kumar Chaudhary vs Election Commission that the right to vote is a legal right and a prisoner cannot vote in an election. The court held that the right to vote is the core of democracy, but on some grounds, this right can be denied. By saying this, the court justified Section 62(5).

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