Is law denying voting rights to prisoners valid? SC to examine

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine the constitutional validity of Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which bars prisoners of their right to vote in polls, and sought response from the Centre and theEC.
A bench of CJI UU Lalit and Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi issued notice and sought response from Centre and the Commission by December 9 when the PIL would be taken up for hearing.
Section 62(5) says, “No person shall vote at any election if he is confined in a prison, whether under a sentence of imprisonment or transportation or otherwise, or is in the lawful custody of police: Provided that nothing in this subsection shall apply to a person subjected to preventive detention under any law for the time being in force”.
The PIL, filed by Aditya Prasanna Bhattacharya, said the provision operates as a blanket ban, as it lacks any kind of reasonable classification based on the nature of the crime committed or the duration of the sentence imposed. It said undertrials whose innocence or guilt hasn’t been conclusively determined, are deprived of their right to vote as they too are confined in prison but a convict can still cast vote if released on bail.