Right to Vote: A Selected Choice

There has been a very significant debate on our constitution regarding the nature of right to vote, which categorically says about the universal adult franchise that emphasizes every Indian citizen above eighteen years of age and having no discrimination on any ground. But People's Representative Act explicitly denies it saying no person shall have the right to vote if he or she is confined in a prison by any means. Hon'ble Supreme Court also emphatically reiterated the same in its judgments that right to vote is only a statutory right, and the legislator can determine the terms on which right to vote can be enjoyed. But the criminal jurisprudence very categorically says that punishment is a means to reform and not to alienate debarring any person his right to franchise as it is considered an extra punishment which is quite unreasonable and unappreciable. Moreover the right to vote imposes a positive obligation on the state to make proper arrangement to ensure its effective exercise. In this paper an attempt has been taken critically to analyze the said matter. Dr. Susanta Kumar Shadangi"Right to Vote: A Selected Choice" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-2 | Issue-3 , April 2018, URL: http://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd11067.pdf http://www.ijtsrd.com/humanities-and-the-arts/english/11067/right-to-vote-a-selected-choice/dr-susanta-kumar-shadangi