For the 13,700 disenfranchised felons of Asia’s largest Tihar Jail, December 4 — the day Delhi goes to polls — will be like any other day in the prison. They will be inside the jail premises of Tihar and Rohini and will be unable to caste their votes since their freedom has been curtailed by law. According to the Delhi Prisons record, there are 9,000 undertrials and 3,500 convicted inmates serving time in Tihar’s jails on charges of offences committed under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code. Of these, 26 are facing capital punishment. There are 1,325 convicted facing life imprisonment and 303 prisoners are convicted to 10 years rigorous imprisonment.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) takes no prisoners. It has clarified that those convicted are not eligible to caste their votes in the Delhi Assembly polls to be held on December 4. “If a person on the electoral rolls is confined to prison or is in lawful custody of police, he will continue to be an elector notwithstanding the prohibition against voting under the Representative of People Act 1951,” the Election Commission said, in its clarification dated October 9, 2013. The clarification came in the wake of utter confusion following the Supreme Court ruling in The Chief Election Commissioner Vs Jan Chaukidar (People Watch) case whether an elector in prison was qualified to caste his/her ballot.
The officials in the electoral office of Delhi say that undertrials can caste their vote. However, the competent body to control and manage elections is silent on the issue of allowing Tihar inmates to exercise their suffrage. When asked whether those undertrials can caste their votes from the jail precincts, the spokesperson for Delhi Prisons, Sunil Gupta, replied in the negative. “The undertrials lodged inside Tihar do not exercise their voting right. There is no practice to allow those in judicial custody to participate in the electoral process,” Gupta said.