NEW DELHI: Of late Delhi prisons have seen some high-profile entrants, including the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his former deputy Manish Sisodia and BRS leader K Kavitha. All are under judicial custody in connection with the alleged excise policy scam.
Even as the CM remains in jail, his party has put him as the star campaigner for the Lok Sabha elections. Not only he but also Sisodia and former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain, who are in Tihar jail, are part of the list.
How will they campaign? Only the party can tell, but can they vote? Probably not. If Kejriwal remains in judicial custody till May 26, he will not be allowed to vote. Voting will be conducted in Delhi on May 25.
As per Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, no person shall vote at any election if he is confined in a prison, whether under a sentence or transportation or otherwise, or is in the lawful custody of the police.
Prisoners who can vote
While speaking to this newspaper, a senior legal officer at the Tihar Jail in Delhi said that there are four types of prisoners lodged in the Tihar Jail and only one of the categories are allowed to vote.
“Among convicts, undertrials, civils, and detainees, only detainees can cast their vote through ballot papers,” the officer said.
Convicted prisoners have been declared guilty of an offence, and undertrials are those who have been accused of a crime and are appearing in a law court.
A “civil prisoner” means who is not a criminal prisoner. “Basically, those who do not comply with orders like not paying their dues, taxes or even electricity bills are civil prisoners, and they too can’t cast their vote,” the officer said.
The only category is the detainees under the Prevention Act, who have the right to vote. The officer refused to share the information when asked whether detainees were at the Tihar.
Delhi has three prison complexes - Tihar, Rohini and Mandoli - and all of them comprise central jails.
Home Dept
Notably, the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Delhi, has recently written to the Home Department of the Delhi Government seeking the list of preventive detainees who are currently lodged in various prisons of the city and are eligible to cast a vote.
“However, as of now, we have not received any response in this regard,” an election officer confirmed to this newspaper.
The officer stated that the local election office sends a letter to the Home Department to dispatch ballot papers to the jail.
The officer said, “The detainees can only cast their vote through a ballot paper.” A ballot paper is a slip of paper used to register votes.
However, according to official sources, the Tihar jail administration has not requested a postal ballot from the local election office for unknown reasons.
When Tihar detainees voted
Former Tihar Jail PRO Sunil Gupta said they used to send a request to the concerned Returning Officer who used to provide ballot papers then.
“When I was part of the jail administration, at that time, there used to be 5-7 such prisoners who voted through ballot papers,” Gupta told this newspaper. The former Tihar officer only remembers when the detainees were given a chance to take part in the electoral process until 2014. The Tihar administration did not provide a favourable response on whether they had discontinued the practice of allowing detainees to cast their votes.
Can contest but can’t vote
Interestingly, prisoners can’t vote but certainly can contest an election and become legislators or parliamentarians. In the current elections, Abdul Rashid Sheikh alias Engineer Rashid (56), who is currently lodged in jail on UAPA charges in Tihar jail, will contest the Lok Sabha elections from J&K’s Baramulla constituency on an Awami Ittehad Party ticket. Notably, ex- J&K CM Omar Abdullah is contesting from the same constituency on the National Conference (NC) ticket.