Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 73 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]Code Context
trigger_error($message, E_USER_DEPRECATED);
}
$message = 'The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 73 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php.' $stackFrame = (int) 1 $trace = [ (int) 0 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/ServerRequest.php', 'line' => (int) 2421, 'function' => 'deprecationWarning', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => 'The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead.' ] ], (int) 1 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php', 'line' => (int) 73, 'function' => 'offsetGet', 'class' => 'Cake\Http\ServerRequest', 'object' => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => 'catslug' ] ], (int) 2 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Controller/Controller.php', 'line' => (int) 610, 'function' => 'printArticle', 'class' => 'App\Controller\ArtileDetailController', 'object' => object(App\Controller\ArtileDetailController) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [] ], (int) 3 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php', 'line' => (int) 120, 'function' => 'invokeAction', 'class' => 'Cake\Controller\Controller', 'object' => object(App\Controller\ArtileDetailController) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [] ], (int) 4 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php', 'line' => (int) 94, 'function' => '_invoke', 'class' => 'Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher', 'object' => object(Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => object(App\Controller\ArtileDetailController) {} ] ], (int) 5 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/BaseApplication.php', 'line' => (int) 235, 'function' => 'dispatch', 'class' => 'Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher', 'object' => object(Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {}, (int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {} ] ], (int) 6 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php', 'line' => (int) 65, 'function' => '__invoke', 'class' => 'Cake\Http\BaseApplication', 'object' => object(App\Application) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {}, (int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}, (int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {} ] ], (int) 7 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php', 'line' => (int) 162, 'function' => '__invoke', 'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner', 'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {}, (int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {} ] ], (int) 8 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php', 'line' => (int) 65, 'function' => '__invoke', 'class' => 'Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware', 'object' => object(Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {}, (int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}, (int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {} ] ], (int) 9 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php', 'line' => (int) 88, 'function' => '__invoke', 'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner', 'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {}, (int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {} ] ], (int) 10 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php', 'line' => (int) 65, 'function' => '__invoke', 'class' => 'Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware', 'object' => object(Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {}, (int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}, (int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {} ] ], (int) 11 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php', 'line' => (int) 96, 'function' => '__invoke', 'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner', 'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {}, (int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {} ] ], (int) 12 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php', 'line' => (int) 65, 'function' => '__invoke', 'class' => 'Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware', 'object' => object(Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {}, (int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}, (int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {} ] ], (int) 13 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php', 'line' => (int) 51, 'function' => '__invoke', 'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner', 'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {}, (int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {} ] ], (int) 14 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Server.php', 'line' => (int) 98, 'function' => 'run', 'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner', 'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\MiddlewareQueue) {}, (int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {}, (int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {} ] ], (int) 15 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/webroot/index.php', 'line' => (int) 39, 'function' => 'run', 'class' => 'Cake\Http\Server', 'object' => object(Cake\Http\Server) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [] ] ] $frame = [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php', 'line' => (int) 73, 'function' => 'offsetGet', 'class' => 'Cake\Http\ServerRequest', 'object' => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) { trustProxy => false [protected] params => [ [maximum depth reached] ] [protected] data => [[maximum depth reached]] [protected] query => [[maximum depth reached]] [protected] cookies => [[maximum depth reached]] [protected] _environment => [ [maximum depth reached] ] [protected] url => 'latest-news-updates/should-prisoners-be-allowed-to-vote-election-commission-panel-to-seek-answer-ritika-chopra-4680144/print' [protected] base => '' [protected] webroot => '/' [protected] here => '/latest-news-updates/should-prisoners-be-allowed-to-vote-election-commission-panel-to-seek-answer-ritika-chopra-4680144/print' [protected] trustedProxies => [[maximum depth reached]] [protected] _input => null [protected] _detectors => [ [maximum depth reached] ] [protected] _detectorCache => [ [maximum depth reached] ] [protected] stream => object(Zend\Diactoros\PhpInputStream) {} [protected] uri => object(Zend\Diactoros\Uri) {} [protected] session => object(Cake\Http\Session) {} [protected] attributes => [[maximum depth reached]] [protected] emulatedAttributes => [ [maximum depth reached] ] [protected] uploadedFiles => [[maximum depth reached]] [protected] protocol => null [protected] requestTarget => null [private] deprecatedProperties => [ [maximum depth reached] ] }, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => 'catslug' ] ]deprecationWarning - CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311 Cake\Http\ServerRequest::offsetGet() - CORE/src/Http/ServerRequest.php, line 2421 App\Controller\ArtileDetailController::printArticle() - APP/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line 73 Cake\Controller\Controller::invokeAction() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 610 Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 120 Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94 Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51 Cake\Http\Server::run() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 98
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 74 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]Code Context
trigger_error($message, E_USER_DEPRECATED);
}
$message = 'The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 74 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php.' $stackFrame = (int) 1 $trace = [ (int) 0 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/ServerRequest.php', 'line' => (int) 2421, 'function' => 'deprecationWarning', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => 'The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead.' ] ], (int) 1 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php', 'line' => (int) 74, 'function' => 'offsetGet', 'class' => 'Cake\Http\ServerRequest', 'object' => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => 'artileslug' ] ], (int) 2 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Controller/Controller.php', 'line' => (int) 610, 'function' => 'printArticle', 'class' => 'App\Controller\ArtileDetailController', 'object' => object(App\Controller\ArtileDetailController) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [] ], (int) 3 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php', 'line' => (int) 120, 'function' => 'invokeAction', 'class' => 'Cake\Controller\Controller', 'object' => object(App\Controller\ArtileDetailController) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [] ], (int) 4 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php', 'line' => (int) 94, 'function' => '_invoke', 'class' => 'Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher', 'object' => object(Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => object(App\Controller\ArtileDetailController) {} ] ], (int) 5 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/BaseApplication.php', 'line' => (int) 235, 'function' => 'dispatch', 'class' => 'Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher', 'object' => object(Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {}, (int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {} ] ], (int) 6 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php', 'line' => (int) 65, 'function' => '__invoke', 'class' => 'Cake\Http\BaseApplication', 'object' => object(App\Application) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {}, (int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}, (int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {} ] ], (int) 7 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php', 'line' => (int) 162, 'function' => '__invoke', 'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner', 'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {}, (int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {} ] ], (int) 8 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php', 'line' => (int) 65, 'function' => '__invoke', 'class' => 'Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware', 'object' => object(Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {}, (int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}, (int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {} ] ], (int) 9 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php', 'line' => (int) 88, 'function' => '__invoke', 'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner', 'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {}, (int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {} ] ], (int) 10 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php', 'line' => (int) 65, 'function' => '__invoke', 'class' => 'Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware', 'object' => object(Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {}, (int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}, (int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {} ] ], (int) 11 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php', 'line' => (int) 96, 'function' => '__invoke', 'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner', 'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {}, (int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {} ] ], (int) 12 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php', 'line' => (int) 65, 'function' => '__invoke', 'class' => 'Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware', 'object' => object(Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {}, (int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}, (int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {} ] ], (int) 13 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php', 'line' => (int) 51, 'function' => '__invoke', 'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner', 'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {}, (int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {} ] ], (int) 14 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Server.php', 'line' => (int) 98, 'function' => 'run', 'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner', 'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\MiddlewareQueue) {}, (int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {}, (int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {} ] ], (int) 15 => [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/webroot/index.php', 'line' => (int) 39, 'function' => 'run', 'class' => 'Cake\Http\Server', 'object' => object(Cake\Http\Server) {}, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [] ] ] $frame = [ 'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php', 'line' => (int) 74, 'function' => 'offsetGet', 'class' => 'Cake\Http\ServerRequest', 'object' => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) { trustProxy => false [protected] params => [ [maximum depth reached] ] [protected] data => [[maximum depth reached]] [protected] query => [[maximum depth reached]] [protected] cookies => [[maximum depth reached]] [protected] _environment => [ [maximum depth reached] ] [protected] url => 'latest-news-updates/should-prisoners-be-allowed-to-vote-election-commission-panel-to-seek-answer-ritika-chopra-4680144/print' [protected] base => '' [protected] webroot => '/' [protected] here => '/latest-news-updates/should-prisoners-be-allowed-to-vote-election-commission-panel-to-seek-answer-ritika-chopra-4680144/print' [protected] trustedProxies => [[maximum depth reached]] [protected] _input => null [protected] _detectors => [ [maximum depth reached] ] [protected] _detectorCache => [ [maximum depth reached] ] [protected] stream => object(Zend\Diactoros\PhpInputStream) {} [protected] uri => object(Zend\Diactoros\Uri) {} [protected] session => object(Cake\Http\Session) {} [protected] attributes => [[maximum depth reached]] [protected] emulatedAttributes => [ [maximum depth reached] ] [protected] uploadedFiles => [[maximum depth reached]] [protected] protocol => null [protected] requestTarget => null [private] deprecatedProperties => [ [maximum depth reached] ] }, 'type' => '->', 'args' => [ (int) 0 => 'artileslug' ] ]deprecationWarning - CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311 Cake\Http\ServerRequest::offsetGet() - CORE/src/Http/ServerRequest.php, line 2421 App\Controller\ArtileDetailController::printArticle() - APP/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line 74 Cake\Controller\Controller::invokeAction() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 610 Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 120 Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94 Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51 Cake\Http\Server::run() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 98
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]Code Contextif (Configure::read('debug')) {
trigger_error($message, E_USER_WARNING);
} else {
$response = object(Cake\Http\Response) { 'status' => (int) 200, 'contentType' => 'text/html', 'headers' => [ 'Content-Type' => [ [maximum depth reached] ] ], 'file' => null, 'fileRange' => [], 'cookies' => object(Cake\Http\Cookie\CookieCollection) {}, 'cacheDirectives' => [], 'body' => '<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <link rel="canonical" href="https://im4change.in/<pre class="cake-error"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67fcc77daa9e9-trace').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67fcc77daa9e9-trace').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none');"><b>Notice</b> (8)</a>: Undefined variable: urlPrefix [<b>APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp</b>, line <b>8</b>]<div id="cakeErr67fcc77daa9e9-trace" class="cake-stack-trace" style="display: none;"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67fcc77daa9e9-code').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67fcc77daa9e9-code').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Code</a> <a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67fcc77daa9e9-context').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67fcc77daa9e9-context').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Context</a><pre id="cakeErr67fcc77daa9e9-code" class="cake-code-dump" style="display: none;"><code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB"></span><span style="color: #007700"><</span><span style="color: #0000BB">head</span><span style="color: #007700">> </span></span></code> <span class="code-highlight"><code><span style="color: #000000"> <link rel="canonical" href="<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php </span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">Configure</span><span style="color: #007700">::</span><span style="color: #0000BB">read</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'SITE_URL'</span><span style="color: #007700">); </span><span style="color: #0000BB">?><?php </span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$urlPrefix</span><span style="color: #007700">;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?><?php </span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">category</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">slug</span><span style="color: #007700">; </span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>/<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php </span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">seo_url</span><span style="color: #007700">; </span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>.html"/> </span></code></span> <code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB"> </span><span style="color: #007700"><</span><span style="color: #0000BB">meta http</span><span style="color: #007700">-</span><span style="color: #0000BB">equiv</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Content-Type" </span><span style="color: #0000BB">content</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"text/html; charset=utf-8"</span><span style="color: #007700">/> </span></span></code></pre><pre id="cakeErr67fcc77daa9e9-context" class="cake-context" style="display: none;">$viewFile = '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp' $dataForView = [ 'article_current' => object(App\Model\Entity\Article) { 'id' => (int) 32068, 'title' => 'Should prisoners be allowed to vote? Election Commission panel to seek answer -Ritika Chopra', 'subheading' => '', 'description' => '<div align="justify"> -The Indian Express<br /> <br /> <em>Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. <br /> </em><br /> The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member committee to explore the possibility of lifting the ban on voting for prisoners.<br /> <br /> Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. Chapter 43 of the Reference Handbook on the General Elections, 2014, also excludes undertrial prisoners from participating in elections even if their names are on electoral rolls. Only those under preventive detention can cast their vote through postal ballots.<br /> <br /> Headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena, the seven-member ECI panel was set up in April after the ECI received several representations, including one from former Delhi Police officer Satyavir Singh Rathi, on why prisoners should not be disenfranchised.<br /> <br /> An Assistant Commissioner of Police at the time, Rathi was convicted in an encounter case in Delhi&rsquo;s Connaught Place of 1997. He is serving sentence in Delhi&rsquo;s Tihar Jail at present.<br /> <br /> Sources told The Indian Express that the committee, of which the Bihar chief electoral officer (CEO) and the Delhi CEO are also members, is examining the practice followed by other countries. The UK, Austria, Russia and Armenia, for instance, do not allow prisoners to vote, while Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland do. Others such as Italy and Greece provide conditional permission under which prisoners with life sentence lose their right to vote.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;The committee has sought views of CEOs of all states to get an idea of ground realities,&rdquo; a source said. &ldquo;If the members agree to recommend voting rights for prisoners, then this can be done through either proxy voting or postal ballots, or mobile voting booths in prisons. But there are several logistical challenges to make this possible.&rdquo;<br /> <br /> The &lsquo;Prison Statistics India, 2014&rsquo; published by the National Crime Records Bureau, says there were 2,82,879 undertrials and 1,31,517 convicts lodged across 1,387 prisons in the country as on December 31, 2014.<br /> <br /> The dominant position in India, established through judgments of the Supreme Court, is that the right to vote is not a fundamental right or a constitutional right but a statutory right that can be enjoyed on certain terms as determined by the legislature.<br /> <br /> The SC has observed that a person is in prison because of his or her conduct, and cannot claim equal rights as others who are not incarcerated.<br /> <br /> Human rights activists, however, have criticised the voting ban on the ground that it makes no offence-based or sentence-based classification &mdash; that is, prisoners are debarred from voting irrespective of the gravity of the offence they have committed, or the length of their sentence. It also makes no distinction between convicted prisoners, undertrials, and those in lawful police custody.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;In my opinion, undertrials should be allowed to vote. This is because there are many people, awaiting trial, who have spent more time in prison than the actual term their alleged crime merits. Their numbers are much bigger than convicts,&rdquo; said Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, founder of the Association of Democratic Reforms, an advocacy group that works on electoral reforms.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;As for convicts, I am not entirely convinced that each one of them should be disenfranchised,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There are different kinds of punishments &mdash; corrective, repudiative, exemplary. I think this issue needs more debate. Moreover, it&rsquo;s ironic that convicts can contest elections but cannot vote.&rdquo; </div>', 'credit_writer' => 'The Indian Express, 14 September, 2016, http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/should-prisoners-be-allowed-to-vote-ec-panel-to-seek-answer-3029960/', 'article_img' => '', 'article_img_thumb' => '', 'status' => (int) 1, 'show_on_home' => (int) 1, 'lang' => 'EN', 'category_id' => (int) 16, 'tag_keyword' => '', 'seo_url' => 'should-prisoners-be-allowed-to-vote-election-commission-panel-to-seek-answer-ritika-chopra-4680144', 'meta_title' => null, 'meta_keywords' => null, 'meta_description' => null, 'noindex' => (int) 0, 'publish_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'most_visit_section_id' => null, 'article_big_img' => null, 'liveid' => (int) 4680144, 'created' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {}, 'modified' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {}, 'edate' => '', 'tags' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], 'category' => object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {}, '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[hasErrors]' => false, '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'Articles' }, 'articleid' => (int) 32068, 'metaTitle' => 'LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Should prisoners be allowed to vote? Election Commission panel to seek answer -Ritika Chopra', 'metaKeywords' => 'Prisoners,NCRB,National Crime Records Bureau,crime,Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act 1951,Representation of the People Act 1951,Election Commission (EC),Voting Rights,Prison Statistics India,Undertrials,Convicts,Human Rights', 'metaDesc' => ' -The Indian Express Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member...', 'disp' => '<div align="justify">-The Indian Express<br /><br /><em>Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. <br /></em><br />The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member committee to explore the possibility of lifting the ban on voting for prisoners.<br /><br />Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. Chapter 43 of the Reference Handbook on the General Elections, 2014, also excludes undertrial prisoners from participating in elections even if their names are on electoral rolls. Only those under preventive detention can cast their vote through postal ballots.<br /><br />Headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena, the seven-member ECI panel was set up in April after the ECI received several representations, including one from former Delhi Police officer Satyavir Singh Rathi, on why prisoners should not be disenfranchised.<br /><br />An Assistant Commissioner of Police at the time, Rathi was convicted in an encounter case in Delhi&rsquo;s Connaught Place of 1997. He is serving sentence in Delhi&rsquo;s Tihar Jail at present.<br /><br />Sources told The Indian Express that the committee, of which the Bihar chief electoral officer (CEO) and the Delhi CEO are also members, is examining the practice followed by other countries. The UK, Austria, Russia and Armenia, for instance, do not allow prisoners to vote, while Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland do. Others such as Italy and Greece provide conditional permission under which prisoners with life sentence lose their right to vote.<br /><br />&ldquo;The committee has sought views of CEOs of all states to get an idea of ground realities,&rdquo; a source said. &ldquo;If the members agree to recommend voting rights for prisoners, then this can be done through either proxy voting or postal ballots, or mobile voting booths in prisons. But there are several logistical challenges to make this possible.&rdquo;<br /><br />The &lsquo;Prison Statistics India, 2014&rsquo; published by the National Crime Records Bureau, says there were 2,82,879 undertrials and 1,31,517 convicts lodged across 1,387 prisons in the country as on December 31, 2014.<br /><br />The dominant position in India, established through judgments of the Supreme Court, is that the right to vote is not a fundamental right or a constitutional right but a statutory right that can be enjoyed on certain terms as determined by the legislature.<br /><br />The SC has observed that a person is in prison because of his or her conduct, and cannot claim equal rights as others who are not incarcerated.<br /><br />Human rights activists, however, have criticised the voting ban on the ground that it makes no offence-based or sentence-based classification &mdash; that is, prisoners are debarred from voting irrespective of the gravity of the offence they have committed, or the length of their sentence. It also makes no distinction between convicted prisoners, undertrials, and those in lawful police custody.<br /><br />&ldquo;In my opinion, undertrials should be allowed to vote. This is because there are many people, awaiting trial, who have spent more time in prison than the actual term their alleged crime merits. Their numbers are much bigger than convicts,&rdquo; said Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, founder of the Association of Democratic Reforms, an advocacy group that works on electoral reforms.<br /><br />&ldquo;As for convicts, I am not entirely convinced that each one of them should be disenfranchised,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There are different kinds of punishments &mdash; corrective, repudiative, exemplary. I think this issue needs more debate. Moreover, it&rsquo;s ironic that convicts can contest elections but cannot vote.&rdquo;</div>', 'lang' => 'English', 'SITE_URL' => 'https://im4change.in/', 'site_title' => 'im4change', 'adminprix' => 'admin' ] $article_current = object(App\Model\Entity\Article) { 'id' => (int) 32068, 'title' => 'Should prisoners be allowed to vote? Election Commission panel to seek answer -Ritika Chopra', 'subheading' => '', 'description' => '<div align="justify"> -The Indian Express<br /> <br /> <em>Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. <br /> </em><br /> The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member committee to explore the possibility of lifting the ban on voting for prisoners.<br /> <br /> Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. Chapter 43 of the Reference Handbook on the General Elections, 2014, also excludes undertrial prisoners from participating in elections even if their names are on electoral rolls. Only those under preventive detention can cast their vote through postal ballots.<br /> <br /> Headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena, the seven-member ECI panel was set up in April after the ECI received several representations, including one from former Delhi Police officer Satyavir Singh Rathi, on why prisoners should not be disenfranchised.<br /> <br /> An Assistant Commissioner of Police at the time, Rathi was convicted in an encounter case in Delhi&rsquo;s Connaught Place of 1997. He is serving sentence in Delhi&rsquo;s Tihar Jail at present.<br /> <br /> Sources told The Indian Express that the committee, of which the Bihar chief electoral officer (CEO) and the Delhi CEO are also members, is examining the practice followed by other countries. The UK, Austria, Russia and Armenia, for instance, do not allow prisoners to vote, while Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland do. Others such as Italy and Greece provide conditional permission under which prisoners with life sentence lose their right to vote.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;The committee has sought views of CEOs of all states to get an idea of ground realities,&rdquo; a source said. &ldquo;If the members agree to recommend voting rights for prisoners, then this can be done through either proxy voting or postal ballots, or mobile voting booths in prisons. But there are several logistical challenges to make this possible.&rdquo;<br /> <br /> The &lsquo;Prison Statistics India, 2014&rsquo; published by the National Crime Records Bureau, says there were 2,82,879 undertrials and 1,31,517 convicts lodged across 1,387 prisons in the country as on December 31, 2014.<br /> <br /> The dominant position in India, established through judgments of the Supreme Court, is that the right to vote is not a fundamental right or a constitutional right but a statutory right that can be enjoyed on certain terms as determined by the legislature.<br /> <br /> The SC has observed that a person is in prison because of his or her conduct, and cannot claim equal rights as others who are not incarcerated.<br /> <br /> Human rights activists, however, have criticised the voting ban on the ground that it makes no offence-based or sentence-based classification &mdash; that is, prisoners are debarred from voting irrespective of the gravity of the offence they have committed, or the length of their sentence. It also makes no distinction between convicted prisoners, undertrials, and those in lawful police custody.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;In my opinion, undertrials should be allowed to vote. This is because there are many people, awaiting trial, who have spent more time in prison than the actual term their alleged crime merits. Their numbers are much bigger than convicts,&rdquo; said Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, founder of the Association of Democratic Reforms, an advocacy group that works on electoral reforms.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;As for convicts, I am not entirely convinced that each one of them should be disenfranchised,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There are different kinds of punishments &mdash; corrective, repudiative, exemplary. I think this issue needs more debate. 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Election Commission panel to seek answer -Ritika Chopra' $metaKeywords = 'Prisoners,NCRB,National Crime Records Bureau,crime,Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act 1951,Representation of the People Act 1951,Election Commission (EC),Voting Rights,Prison Statistics India,Undertrials,Convicts,Human Rights' $metaDesc = ' -The Indian Express Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member...' $disp = '<div align="justify">-The Indian Express<br /><br /><em>Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. <br /></em><br />The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member committee to explore the possibility of lifting the ban on voting for prisoners.<br /><br />Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. Chapter 43 of the Reference Handbook on the General Elections, 2014, also excludes undertrial prisoners from participating in elections even if their names are on electoral rolls. Only those under preventive detention can cast their vote through postal ballots.<br /><br />Headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena, the seven-member ECI panel was set up in April after the ECI received several representations, including one from former Delhi Police officer Satyavir Singh Rathi, on why prisoners should not be disenfranchised.<br /><br />An Assistant Commissioner of Police at the time, Rathi was convicted in an encounter case in Delhi&rsquo;s Connaught Place of 1997. He is serving sentence in Delhi&rsquo;s Tihar Jail at present.<br /><br />Sources told The Indian Express that the committee, of which the Bihar chief electoral officer (CEO) and the Delhi CEO are also members, is examining the practice followed by other countries. The UK, Austria, Russia and Armenia, for instance, do not allow prisoners to vote, while Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland do. Others such as Italy and Greece provide conditional permission under which prisoners with life sentence lose their right to vote.<br /><br />&ldquo;The committee has sought views of CEOs of all states to get an idea of ground realities,&rdquo; a source said. &ldquo;If the members agree to recommend voting rights for prisoners, then this can be done through either proxy voting or postal ballots, or mobile voting booths in prisons. But there are several logistical challenges to make this possible.&rdquo;<br /><br />The &lsquo;Prison Statistics India, 2014&rsquo; published by the National Crime Records Bureau, says there were 2,82,879 undertrials and 1,31,517 convicts lodged across 1,387 prisons in the country as on December 31, 2014.<br /><br />The dominant position in India, established through judgments of the Supreme Court, is that the right to vote is not a fundamental right or a constitutional right but a statutory right that can be enjoyed on certain terms as determined by the legislature.<br /><br />The SC has observed that a person is in prison because of his or her conduct, and cannot claim equal rights as others who are not incarcerated.<br /><br />Human rights activists, however, have criticised the voting ban on the ground that it makes no offence-based or sentence-based classification &mdash; that is, prisoners are debarred from voting irrespective of the gravity of the offence they have committed, or the length of their sentence. It also makes no distinction between convicted prisoners, undertrials, and those in lawful police custody.<br /><br />&ldquo;In my opinion, undertrials should be allowed to vote. This is because there are many people, awaiting trial, who have spent more time in prison than the actual term their alleged crime merits. Their numbers are much bigger than convicts,&rdquo; said Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, founder of the Association of Democratic Reforms, an advocacy group that works on electoral reforms.<br /><br />&ldquo;As for convicts, I am not entirely convinced that each one of them should be disenfranchised,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There are different kinds of punishments &mdash; corrective, repudiative, exemplary. I think this issue needs more debate. Moreover, it&rsquo;s ironic that convicts can contest elections but cannot vote.&rdquo;</div>' $lang = 'English' $SITE_URL = 'https://im4change.in/' $site_title = 'im4change' $adminprix = 'admin'</pre><pre class="stack-trace">include - APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8 Cake\View\View::_evaluate() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1413 Cake\View\View::_render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1374 Cake\View\View::renderLayout() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 927 Cake\View\View::render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 885 Cake\Controller\Controller::render() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 791 Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 126 Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94 Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51</pre></div></pre>latest-news-updates/should-prisoners-be-allowed-to-vote-election-commission-panel-to-seek-answer-ritika-chopra-4680144.html"/> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/> <link href="https://im4change.in/css/control.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all"/> <title>LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Should prisoners be allowed to vote? Election Commission panel to seek answer -Ritika Chopra | Im4change.org</title> <meta name="description" content=" -The Indian Express Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member..."/> <script src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-1.10.2.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-migrate.min.js"></script> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript"> $(document).ready(function () { var img = $("img")[0]; // Get my img elem var pic_real_width, pic_real_height; $("<img/>") // Make in memory copy of image to avoid css issues .attr("src", $(img).attr("src")) .load(function () { pic_real_width = this.width; // Note: $(this).width() will not pic_real_height = this.height; // work for in memory images. }); }); </script> <style type="text/css"> @media screen { div.divFooter { display: block; } } @media print { .printbutton { display: none !important; } } </style> </head> <body> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="98%" align="center"> <tr> <td class="top_bg"> <div class="divFooter"> <img src="https://im4change.in/images/logo1.jpg" height="59" border="0" alt="Resource centre on India's rural distress" style="padding-top:14px;"/> </div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td id="topspace"> </td> </tr> <tr id="topspace"> <td> </td> </tr> <tr> <td height="50" style="border-bottom:1px solid #000; padding-top:10px;" class="printbutton"> <form><input type="button" value=" Print this page " onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%"> <h1 class="news_headlines" style="font-style:normal"> <strong>Should prisoners be allowed to vote? Election Commission panel to seek answer -Ritika Chopra</strong></h1> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" style="font-family:Arial, 'Segoe Script', 'Segoe UI', sans-serif, serif"><font size="3"> <div align="justify">-The Indian Express<br /><br /><em>Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. <br /></em><br />The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member committee to explore the possibility of lifting the ban on voting for prisoners.<br /><br />Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. Chapter 43 of the Reference Handbook on the General Elections, 2014, also excludes undertrial prisoners from participating in elections even if their names are on electoral rolls. Only those under preventive detention can cast their vote through postal ballots.<br /><br />Headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena, the seven-member ECI panel was set up in April after the ECI received several representations, including one from former Delhi Police officer Satyavir Singh Rathi, on why prisoners should not be disenfranchised.<br /><br />An Assistant Commissioner of Police at the time, Rathi was convicted in an encounter case in Delhi’s Connaught Place of 1997. He is serving sentence in Delhi’s Tihar Jail at present.<br /><br />Sources told The Indian Express that the committee, of which the Bihar chief electoral officer (CEO) and the Delhi CEO are also members, is examining the practice followed by other countries. The UK, Austria, Russia and Armenia, for instance, do not allow prisoners to vote, while Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland do. Others such as Italy and Greece provide conditional permission under which prisoners with life sentence lose their right to vote.<br /><br />“The committee has sought views of CEOs of all states to get an idea of ground realities,” a source said. “If the members agree to recommend voting rights for prisoners, then this can be done through either proxy voting or postal ballots, or mobile voting booths in prisons. But there are several logistical challenges to make this possible.”<br /><br />The ‘Prison Statistics India, 2014’ published by the National Crime Records Bureau, says there were 2,82,879 undertrials and 1,31,517 convicts lodged across 1,387 prisons in the country as on December 31, 2014.<br /><br />The dominant position in India, established through judgments of the Supreme Court, is that the right to vote is not a fundamental right or a constitutional right but a statutory right that can be enjoyed on certain terms as determined by the legislature.<br /><br />The SC has observed that a person is in prison because of his or her conduct, and cannot claim equal rights as others who are not incarcerated.<br /><br />Human rights activists, however, have criticised the voting ban on the ground that it makes no offence-based or sentence-based classification — that is, prisoners are debarred from voting irrespective of the gravity of the offence they have committed, or the length of their sentence. It also makes no distinction between convicted prisoners, undertrials, and those in lawful police custody.<br /><br />“In my opinion, undertrials should be allowed to vote. This is because there are many people, awaiting trial, who have spent more time in prison than the actual term their alleged crime merits. Their numbers are much bigger than convicts,” said Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, founder of the Association of Democratic Reforms, an advocacy group that works on electoral reforms.<br /><br />“As for convicts, I am not entirely convinced that each one of them should be disenfranchised,” he said. “There are different kinds of punishments — corrective, repudiative, exemplary. I think this issue needs more debate. Moreover, it’s ironic that convicts can contest elections but cannot vote.”</div> </font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> </tr> <tr> <td height="50" style="border-top:1px solid #000; border-bottom:1px solid #000;padding-top:10px;"> <form><input type="button" value=" Print this page " onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form> </td> </tr> </table></body> </html>' } $maxBufferLength = (int) 8192 $file = '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php' $line = (int) 853 $message = 'Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853'Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emit() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48 Cake\Http\Server::emit() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 141 [main] - ROOT/webroot/index.php, line 39
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'' : 'none')">Context</a><pre id="cakeErr67fcc77daa9e9-code" class="cake-code-dump" style="display: none;"><code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB"></span><span style="color: #007700"><</span><span style="color: #0000BB">head</span><span style="color: #007700">> </span></span></code> <span class="code-highlight"><code><span style="color: #000000"> <link rel="canonical" href="<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php </span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">Configure</span><span style="color: #007700">::</span><span style="color: #0000BB">read</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'SITE_URL'</span><span style="color: #007700">); </span><span style="color: #0000BB">?><?php </span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$urlPrefix</span><span style="color: #007700">;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?><?php </span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">category</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">slug</span><span style="color: #007700">; </span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>/<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php </span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">seo_url</span><span style="color: #007700">; </span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>.html"/> </span></code></span> <code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB"> </span><span style="color: #007700"><</span><span style="color: #0000BB">meta http</span><span style="color: #007700">-</span><span style="color: #0000BB">equiv</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Content-Type" </span><span style="color: #0000BB">content</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"text/html; charset=utf-8"</span><span style="color: #007700">/> </span></span></code></pre><pre id="cakeErr67fcc77daa9e9-context" class="cake-context" style="display: none;">$viewFile = '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp' $dataForView = [ 'article_current' => object(App\Model\Entity\Article) { 'id' => (int) 32068, 'title' => 'Should prisoners be allowed to vote? Election Commission panel to seek answer -Ritika Chopra', 'subheading' => '', 'description' => '<div align="justify"> -The Indian Express<br /> <br /> <em>Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. <br /> </em><br /> The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member committee to explore the possibility of lifting the ban on voting for prisoners.<br /> <br /> Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. Chapter 43 of the Reference Handbook on the General Elections, 2014, also excludes undertrial prisoners from participating in elections even if their names are on electoral rolls. Only those under preventive detention can cast their vote through postal ballots.<br /> <br /> Headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena, the seven-member ECI panel was set up in April after the ECI received several representations, including one from former Delhi Police officer Satyavir Singh Rathi, on why prisoners should not be disenfranchised.<br /> <br /> An Assistant Commissioner of Police at the time, Rathi was convicted in an encounter case in Delhi&rsquo;s Connaught Place of 1997. He is serving sentence in Delhi&rsquo;s Tihar Jail at present.<br /> <br /> Sources told The Indian Express that the committee, of which the Bihar chief electoral officer (CEO) and the Delhi CEO are also members, is examining the practice followed by other countries. The UK, Austria, Russia and Armenia, for instance, do not allow prisoners to vote, while Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland do. Others such as Italy and Greece provide conditional permission under which prisoners with life sentence lose their right to vote.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;The committee has sought views of CEOs of all states to get an idea of ground realities,&rdquo; a source said. &ldquo;If the members agree to recommend voting rights for prisoners, then this can be done through either proxy voting or postal ballots, or mobile voting booths in prisons. But there are several logistical challenges to make this possible.&rdquo;<br /> <br /> The &lsquo;Prison Statistics India, 2014&rsquo; published by the National Crime Records Bureau, says there were 2,82,879 undertrials and 1,31,517 convicts lodged across 1,387 prisons in the country as on December 31, 2014.<br /> <br /> The dominant position in India, established through judgments of the Supreme Court, is that the right to vote is not a fundamental right or a constitutional right but a statutory right that can be enjoyed on certain terms as determined by the legislature.<br /> <br /> The SC has observed that a person is in prison because of his or her conduct, and cannot claim equal rights as others who are not incarcerated.<br /> <br /> Human rights activists, however, have criticised the voting ban on the ground that it makes no offence-based or sentence-based classification &mdash; that is, prisoners are debarred from voting irrespective of the gravity of the offence they have committed, or the length of their sentence. It also makes no distinction between convicted prisoners, undertrials, and those in lawful police custody.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;In my opinion, undertrials should be allowed to vote. This is because there are many people, awaiting trial, who have spent more time in prison than the actual term their alleged crime merits. Their numbers are much bigger than convicts,&rdquo; said Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, founder of the Association of Democratic Reforms, an advocacy group that works on electoral reforms.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;As for convicts, I am not entirely convinced that each one of them should be disenfranchised,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There are different kinds of punishments &mdash; corrective, repudiative, exemplary. I think this issue needs more debate. Moreover, it&rsquo;s ironic that convicts can contest elections but cannot vote.&rdquo; </div>', 'credit_writer' => 'The Indian Express, 14 September, 2016, http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/should-prisoners-be-allowed-to-vote-ec-panel-to-seek-answer-3029960/', 'article_img' => '', 'article_img_thumb' => '', 'status' => (int) 1, 'show_on_home' => (int) 1, 'lang' => 'EN', 'category_id' => (int) 16, 'tag_keyword' => '', 'seo_url' => 'should-prisoners-be-allowed-to-vote-election-commission-panel-to-seek-answer-ritika-chopra-4680144', 'meta_title' => null, 'meta_keywords' => null, 'meta_description' => null, 'noindex' => (int) 0, 'publish_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'most_visit_section_id' => null, 'article_big_img' => null, 'liveid' => (int) 4680144, 'created' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {}, 'modified' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {}, 'edate' => '', 'tags' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], 'category' => object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {}, '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[hasErrors]' => false, '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'Articles' }, 'articleid' => (int) 32068, 'metaTitle' => 'LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Should prisoners be allowed to vote? Election Commission panel to seek answer -Ritika Chopra', 'metaKeywords' => 'Prisoners,NCRB,National Crime Records Bureau,crime,Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act 1951,Representation of the People Act 1951,Election Commission (EC),Voting Rights,Prison Statistics India,Undertrials,Convicts,Human Rights', 'metaDesc' => ' -The Indian Express Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member...', 'disp' => '<div align="justify">-The Indian Express<br /><br /><em>Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. <br /></em><br />The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member committee to explore the possibility of lifting the ban on voting for prisoners.<br /><br />Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. Chapter 43 of the Reference Handbook on the General Elections, 2014, also excludes undertrial prisoners from participating in elections even if their names are on electoral rolls. Only those under preventive detention can cast their vote through postal ballots.<br /><br />Headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena, the seven-member ECI panel was set up in April after the ECI received several representations, including one from former Delhi Police officer Satyavir Singh Rathi, on why prisoners should not be disenfranchised.<br /><br />An Assistant Commissioner of Police at the time, Rathi was convicted in an encounter case in Delhi&rsquo;s Connaught Place of 1997. He is serving sentence in Delhi&rsquo;s Tihar Jail at present.<br /><br />Sources told The Indian Express that the committee, of which the Bihar chief electoral officer (CEO) and the Delhi CEO are also members, is examining the practice followed by other countries. The UK, Austria, Russia and Armenia, for instance, do not allow prisoners to vote, while Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland do. Others such as Italy and Greece provide conditional permission under which prisoners with life sentence lose their right to vote.<br /><br />&ldquo;The committee has sought views of CEOs of all states to get an idea of ground realities,&rdquo; a source said. &ldquo;If the members agree to recommend voting rights for prisoners, then this can be done through either proxy voting or postal ballots, or mobile voting booths in prisons. But there are several logistical challenges to make this possible.&rdquo;<br /><br />The &lsquo;Prison Statistics India, 2014&rsquo; published by the National Crime Records Bureau, says there were 2,82,879 undertrials and 1,31,517 convicts lodged across 1,387 prisons in the country as on December 31, 2014.<br /><br />The dominant position in India, established through judgments of the Supreme Court, is that the right to vote is not a fundamental right or a constitutional right but a statutory right that can be enjoyed on certain terms as determined by the legislature.<br /><br />The SC has observed that a person is in prison because of his or her conduct, and cannot claim equal rights as others who are not incarcerated.<br /><br />Human rights activists, however, have criticised the voting ban on the ground that it makes no offence-based or sentence-based classification &mdash; that is, prisoners are debarred from voting irrespective of the gravity of the offence they have committed, or the length of their sentence. It also makes no distinction between convicted prisoners, undertrials, and those in lawful police custody.<br /><br />&ldquo;In my opinion, undertrials should be allowed to vote. This is because there are many people, awaiting trial, who have spent more time in prison than the actual term their alleged crime merits. Their numbers are much bigger than convicts,&rdquo; said Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, founder of the Association of Democratic Reforms, an advocacy group that works on electoral reforms.<br /><br />&ldquo;As for convicts, I am not entirely convinced that each one of them should be disenfranchised,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There are different kinds of punishments &mdash; corrective, repudiative, exemplary. I think this issue needs more debate. Moreover, it&rsquo;s ironic that convicts can contest elections but cannot vote.&rdquo;</div>', 'lang' => 'English', 'SITE_URL' => 'https://im4change.in/', 'site_title' => 'im4change', 'adminprix' => 'admin' ] $article_current = object(App\Model\Entity\Article) { 'id' => (int) 32068, 'title' => 'Should prisoners be allowed to vote? Election Commission panel to seek answer -Ritika Chopra', 'subheading' => '', 'description' => '<div align="justify"> -The Indian Express<br /> <br /> <em>Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. <br /> </em><br /> The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member committee to explore the possibility of lifting the ban on voting for prisoners.<br /> <br /> Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. Chapter 43 of the Reference Handbook on the General Elections, 2014, also excludes undertrial prisoners from participating in elections even if their names are on electoral rolls. Only those under preventive detention can cast their vote through postal ballots.<br /> <br /> Headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena, the seven-member ECI panel was set up in April after the ECI received several representations, including one from former Delhi Police officer Satyavir Singh Rathi, on why prisoners should not be disenfranchised.<br /> <br /> An Assistant Commissioner of Police at the time, Rathi was convicted in an encounter case in Delhi&rsquo;s Connaught Place of 1997. He is serving sentence in Delhi&rsquo;s Tihar Jail at present.<br /> <br /> Sources told The Indian Express that the committee, of which the Bihar chief electoral officer (CEO) and the Delhi CEO are also members, is examining the practice followed by other countries. The UK, Austria, Russia and Armenia, for instance, do not allow prisoners to vote, while Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland do. Others such as Italy and Greece provide conditional permission under which prisoners with life sentence lose their right to vote.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;The committee has sought views of CEOs of all states to get an idea of ground realities,&rdquo; a source said. &ldquo;If the members agree to recommend voting rights for prisoners, then this can be done through either proxy voting or postal ballots, or mobile voting booths in prisons. But there are several logistical challenges to make this possible.&rdquo;<br /> <br /> The &lsquo;Prison Statistics India, 2014&rsquo; published by the National Crime Records Bureau, says there were 2,82,879 undertrials and 1,31,517 convicts lodged across 1,387 prisons in the country as on December 31, 2014.<br /> <br /> The dominant position in India, established through judgments of the Supreme Court, is that the right to vote is not a fundamental right or a constitutional right but a statutory right that can be enjoyed on certain terms as determined by the legislature.<br /> <br /> The SC has observed that a person is in prison because of his or her conduct, and cannot claim equal rights as others who are not incarcerated.<br /> <br /> Human rights activists, however, have criticised the voting ban on the ground that it makes no offence-based or sentence-based classification &mdash; that is, prisoners are debarred from voting irrespective of the gravity of the offence they have committed, or the length of their sentence. It also makes no distinction between convicted prisoners, undertrials, and those in lawful police custody.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;In my opinion, undertrials should be allowed to vote. This is because there are many people, awaiting trial, who have spent more time in prison than the actual term their alleged crime merits. Their numbers are much bigger than convicts,&rdquo; said Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, founder of the Association of Democratic Reforms, an advocacy group that works on electoral reforms.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;As for convicts, I am not entirely convinced that each one of them should be disenfranchised,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There are different kinds of punishments &mdash; corrective, repudiative, exemplary. I think this issue needs more debate. 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Election Commission panel to seek answer -Ritika Chopra' $metaKeywords = 'Prisoners,NCRB,National Crime Records Bureau,crime,Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act 1951,Representation of the People Act 1951,Election Commission (EC),Voting Rights,Prison Statistics India,Undertrials,Convicts,Human Rights' $metaDesc = ' -The Indian Express Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member...' $disp = '<div align="justify">-The Indian Express<br /><br /><em>Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. <br /></em><br />The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member committee to explore the possibility of lifting the ban on voting for prisoners.<br /><br />Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. Chapter 43 of the Reference Handbook on the General Elections, 2014, also excludes undertrial prisoners from participating in elections even if their names are on electoral rolls. Only those under preventive detention can cast their vote through postal ballots.<br /><br />Headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena, the seven-member ECI panel was set up in April after the ECI received several representations, including one from former Delhi Police officer Satyavir Singh Rathi, on why prisoners should not be disenfranchised.<br /><br />An Assistant Commissioner of Police at the time, Rathi was convicted in an encounter case in Delhi&rsquo;s Connaught Place of 1997. He is serving sentence in Delhi&rsquo;s Tihar Jail at present.<br /><br />Sources told The Indian Express that the committee, of which the Bihar chief electoral officer (CEO) and the Delhi CEO are also members, is examining the practice followed by other countries. The UK, Austria, Russia and Armenia, for instance, do not allow prisoners to vote, while Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland do. Others such as Italy and Greece provide conditional permission under which prisoners with life sentence lose their right to vote.<br /><br />&ldquo;The committee has sought views of CEOs of all states to get an idea of ground realities,&rdquo; a source said. &ldquo;If the members agree to recommend voting rights for prisoners, then this can be done through either proxy voting or postal ballots, or mobile voting booths in prisons. But there are several logistical challenges to make this possible.&rdquo;<br /><br />The &lsquo;Prison Statistics India, 2014&rsquo; published by the National Crime Records Bureau, says there were 2,82,879 undertrials and 1,31,517 convicts lodged across 1,387 prisons in the country as on December 31, 2014.<br /><br />The dominant position in India, established through judgments of the Supreme Court, is that the right to vote is not a fundamental right or a constitutional right but a statutory right that can be enjoyed on certain terms as determined by the legislature.<br /><br />The SC has observed that a person is in prison because of his or her conduct, and cannot claim equal rights as others who are not incarcerated.<br /><br />Human rights activists, however, have criticised the voting ban on the ground that it makes no offence-based or sentence-based classification &mdash; that is, prisoners are debarred from voting irrespective of the gravity of the offence they have committed, or the length of their sentence. It also makes no distinction between convicted prisoners, undertrials, and those in lawful police custody.<br /><br />&ldquo;In my opinion, undertrials should be allowed to vote. This is because there are many people, awaiting trial, who have spent more time in prison than the actual term their alleged crime merits. Their numbers are much bigger than convicts,&rdquo; said Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, founder of the Association of Democratic Reforms, an advocacy group that works on electoral reforms.<br /><br />&ldquo;As for convicts, I am not entirely convinced that each one of them should be disenfranchised,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There are different kinds of punishments &mdash; corrective, repudiative, exemplary. I think this issue needs more debate. Moreover, it&rsquo;s ironic that convicts can contest elections but cannot vote.&rdquo;</div>' $lang = 'English' $SITE_URL = 'https://im4change.in/' $site_title = 'im4change' $adminprix = 'admin'</pre><pre class="stack-trace">include - APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8 Cake\View\View::_evaluate() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1413 Cake\View\View::_render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1374 Cake\View\View::renderLayout() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 927 Cake\View\View::render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 885 Cake\Controller\Controller::render() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 791 Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 126 Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94 Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51</pre></div></pre>latest-news-updates/should-prisoners-be-allowed-to-vote-election-commission-panel-to-seek-answer-ritika-chopra-4680144.html"/> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/> <link href="https://im4change.in/css/control.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all"/> <title>LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Should prisoners be allowed to vote? Election Commission panel to seek answer -Ritika Chopra | Im4change.org</title> <meta name="description" content=" -The Indian Express Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member..."/> <script src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-1.10.2.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-migrate.min.js"></script> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript"> $(document).ready(function () { var img = $("img")[0]; // Get my img elem var pic_real_width, pic_real_height; $("<img/>") // Make in memory copy of image to avoid css issues .attr("src", $(img).attr("src")) .load(function () { pic_real_width = this.width; // Note: $(this).width() will not pic_real_height = this.height; // work for in memory images. }); }); </script> <style type="text/css"> @media screen { div.divFooter { display: block; } } @media print { .printbutton { display: none !important; } } </style> </head> <body> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="98%" align="center"> <tr> <td class="top_bg"> <div class="divFooter"> <img src="https://im4change.in/images/logo1.jpg" height="59" border="0" alt="Resource centre on India's rural distress" style="padding-top:14px;"/> </div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td id="topspace"> </td> </tr> <tr id="topspace"> <td> </td> </tr> <tr> <td height="50" style="border-bottom:1px solid #000; padding-top:10px;" class="printbutton"> <form><input type="button" value=" Print this page " onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%"> <h1 class="news_headlines" style="font-style:normal"> <strong>Should prisoners be allowed to vote? Election Commission panel to seek answer -Ritika Chopra</strong></h1> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" style="font-family:Arial, 'Segoe Script', 'Segoe UI', sans-serif, serif"><font size="3"> <div align="justify">-The Indian Express<br /><br /><em>Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. <br /></em><br />The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member committee to explore the possibility of lifting the ban on voting for prisoners.<br /><br />Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. Chapter 43 of the Reference Handbook on the General Elections, 2014, also excludes undertrial prisoners from participating in elections even if their names are on electoral rolls. Only those under preventive detention can cast their vote through postal ballots.<br /><br />Headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena, the seven-member ECI panel was set up in April after the ECI received several representations, including one from former Delhi Police officer Satyavir Singh Rathi, on why prisoners should not be disenfranchised.<br /><br />An Assistant Commissioner of Police at the time, Rathi was convicted in an encounter case in Delhi’s Connaught Place of 1997. He is serving sentence in Delhi’s Tihar Jail at present.<br /><br />Sources told The Indian Express that the committee, of which the Bihar chief electoral officer (CEO) and the Delhi CEO are also members, is examining the practice followed by other countries. The UK, Austria, Russia and Armenia, for instance, do not allow prisoners to vote, while Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland do. Others such as Italy and Greece provide conditional permission under which prisoners with life sentence lose their right to vote.<br /><br />“The committee has sought views of CEOs of all states to get an idea of ground realities,” a source said. “If the members agree to recommend voting rights for prisoners, then this can be done through either proxy voting or postal ballots, or mobile voting booths in prisons. But there are several logistical challenges to make this possible.”<br /><br />The ‘Prison Statistics India, 2014’ published by the National Crime Records Bureau, says there were 2,82,879 undertrials and 1,31,517 convicts lodged across 1,387 prisons in the country as on December 31, 2014.<br /><br />The dominant position in India, established through judgments of the Supreme Court, is that the right to vote is not a fundamental right or a constitutional right but a statutory right that can be enjoyed on certain terms as determined by the legislature.<br /><br />The SC has observed that a person is in prison because of his or her conduct, and cannot claim equal rights as others who are not incarcerated.<br /><br />Human rights activists, however, have criticised the voting ban on the ground that it makes no offence-based or sentence-based classification — that is, prisoners are debarred from voting irrespective of the gravity of the offence they have committed, or the length of their sentence. It also makes no distinction between convicted prisoners, undertrials, and those in lawful police custody.<br /><br />“In my opinion, undertrials should be allowed to vote. This is because there are many people, awaiting trial, who have spent more time in prison than the actual term their alleged crime merits. Their numbers are much bigger than convicts,” said Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, founder of the Association of Democratic Reforms, an advocacy group that works on electoral reforms.<br /><br />“As for convicts, I am not entirely convinced that each one of them should be disenfranchised,” he said. “There are different kinds of punishments — corrective, repudiative, exemplary. I think this issue needs more debate. Moreover, it’s ironic that convicts can contest elections but cannot vote.”</div> </font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> </tr> <tr> <td height="50" style="border-top:1px solid #000; border-bottom:1px solid #000;padding-top:10px;"> <form><input type="button" value=" Print this page " onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form> </td> </tr> </table></body> </html>' } $reasonPhrase = 'OK'header - [internal], line ?? Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emitStatusLine() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148 Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emit() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 54 Cake\Http\Server::emit() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 141 [main] - ROOT/webroot/index.php, line 39
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'' : 'none');"><b>Notice</b> (8)</a>: Undefined variable: urlPrefix [<b>APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp</b>, line <b>8</b>]<div id="cakeErr67fcc77daa9e9-trace" class="cake-stack-trace" style="display: none;"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67fcc77daa9e9-code').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67fcc77daa9e9-code').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Code</a> <a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67fcc77daa9e9-context').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67fcc77daa9e9-context').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Context</a><pre id="cakeErr67fcc77daa9e9-code" class="cake-code-dump" style="display: none;"><code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB"></span><span style="color: #007700"><</span><span style="color: #0000BB">head</span><span style="color: #007700">> </span></span></code> <span class="code-highlight"><code><span style="color: #000000"> <link rel="canonical" href="<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php </span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">Configure</span><span style="color: #007700">::</span><span style="color: #0000BB">read</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'SITE_URL'</span><span style="color: #007700">); </span><span style="color: #0000BB">?><?php </span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$urlPrefix</span><span style="color: #007700">;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?><?php </span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">category</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">slug</span><span style="color: #007700">; </span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>/<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php </span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">seo_url</span><span style="color: #007700">; </span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>.html"/> </span></code></span> <code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB"> </span><span style="color: #007700"><</span><span style="color: #0000BB">meta http</span><span style="color: #007700">-</span><span style="color: #0000BB">equiv</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Content-Type" </span><span style="color: #0000BB">content</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"text/html; charset=utf-8"</span><span style="color: #007700">/> </span></span></code></pre><pre id="cakeErr67fcc77daa9e9-context" class="cake-context" style="display: none;">$viewFile = '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp' $dataForView = [ 'article_current' => object(App\Model\Entity\Article) { 'id' => (int) 32068, 'title' => 'Should prisoners be allowed to vote? 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Only those under preventive detention can cast their vote through postal ballots.<br /> <br /> Headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena, the seven-member ECI panel was set up in April after the ECI received several representations, including one from former Delhi Police officer Satyavir Singh Rathi, on why prisoners should not be disenfranchised.<br /> <br /> An Assistant Commissioner of Police at the time, Rathi was convicted in an encounter case in Delhi&rsquo;s Connaught Place of 1997. He is serving sentence in Delhi&rsquo;s Tihar Jail at present.<br /> <br /> Sources told The Indian Express that the committee, of which the Bihar chief electoral officer (CEO) and the Delhi CEO are also members, is examining the practice followed by other countries. The UK, Austria, Russia and Armenia, for instance, do not allow prisoners to vote, while Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland do. Others such as Italy and Greece provide conditional permission under which prisoners with life sentence lose their right to vote.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;The committee has sought views of CEOs of all states to get an idea of ground realities,&rdquo; a source said. &ldquo;If the members agree to recommend voting rights for prisoners, then this can be done through either proxy voting or postal ballots, or mobile voting booths in prisons. But there are several logistical challenges to make this possible.&rdquo;<br /> <br /> The &lsquo;Prison Statistics India, 2014&rsquo; published by the National Crime Records Bureau, says there were 2,82,879 undertrials and 1,31,517 convicts lodged across 1,387 prisons in the country as on December 31, 2014.<br /> <br /> The dominant position in India, established through judgments of the Supreme Court, is that the right to vote is not a fundamental right or a constitutional right but a statutory right that can be enjoyed on certain terms as determined by the legislature.<br /> <br /> The SC has observed that a person is in prison because of his or her conduct, and cannot claim equal rights as others who are not incarcerated.<br /> <br /> Human rights activists, however, have criticised the voting ban on the ground that it makes no offence-based or sentence-based classification &mdash; that is, prisoners are debarred from voting irrespective of the gravity of the offence they have committed, or the length of their sentence. It also makes no distinction between convicted prisoners, undertrials, and those in lawful police custody.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;In my opinion, undertrials should be allowed to vote. This is because there are many people, awaiting trial, who have spent more time in prison than the actual term their alleged crime merits. Their numbers are much bigger than convicts,&rdquo; said Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, founder of the Association of Democratic Reforms, an advocacy group that works on electoral reforms.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;As for convicts, I am not entirely convinced that each one of them should be disenfranchised,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There are different kinds of punishments &mdash; corrective, repudiative, exemplary. I think this issue needs more debate. Moreover, it&rsquo;s ironic that convicts can contest elections but cannot vote.&rdquo; </div>', 'credit_writer' => 'The Indian Express, 14 September, 2016, http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/should-prisoners-be-allowed-to-vote-ec-panel-to-seek-answer-3029960/', 'article_img' => '', 'article_img_thumb' => '', 'status' => (int) 1, 'show_on_home' => (int) 1, 'lang' => 'EN', 'category_id' => (int) 16, 'tag_keyword' => '', 'seo_url' => 'should-prisoners-be-allowed-to-vote-election-commission-panel-to-seek-answer-ritika-chopra-4680144', 'meta_title' => null, 'meta_keywords' => null, 'meta_description' => null, 'noindex' => (int) 0, 'publish_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'most_visit_section_id' => null, 'article_big_img' => null, 'liveid' => (int) 4680144, 'created' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {}, 'modified' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {}, 'edate' => '', 'tags' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], 'category' => object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {}, '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[hasErrors]' => false, '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'Articles' }, 'articleid' => (int) 32068, 'metaTitle' => 'LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Should prisoners be allowed to vote? 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The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member...', 'disp' => '<div align="justify">-The Indian Express<br /><br /><em>Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. <br /></em><br />The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member committee to explore the possibility of lifting the ban on voting for prisoners.<br /><br />Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. Chapter 43 of the Reference Handbook on the General Elections, 2014, also excludes undertrial prisoners from participating in elections even if their names are on electoral rolls. Only those under preventive detention can cast their vote through postal ballots.<br /><br />Headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena, the seven-member ECI panel was set up in April after the ECI received several representations, including one from former Delhi Police officer Satyavir Singh Rathi, on why prisoners should not be disenfranchised.<br /><br />An Assistant Commissioner of Police at the time, Rathi was convicted in an encounter case in Delhi&rsquo;s Connaught Place of 1997. He is serving sentence in Delhi&rsquo;s Tihar Jail at present.<br /><br />Sources told The Indian Express that the committee, of which the Bihar chief electoral officer (CEO) and the Delhi CEO are also members, is examining the practice followed by other countries. The UK, Austria, Russia and Armenia, for instance, do not allow prisoners to vote, while Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland do. Others such as Italy and Greece provide conditional permission under which prisoners with life sentence lose their right to vote.<br /><br />&ldquo;The committee has sought views of CEOs of all states to get an idea of ground realities,&rdquo; a source said. &ldquo;If the members agree to recommend voting rights for prisoners, then this can be done through either proxy voting or postal ballots, or mobile voting booths in prisons. But there are several logistical challenges to make this possible.&rdquo;<br /><br />The &lsquo;Prison Statistics India, 2014&rsquo; published by the National Crime Records Bureau, says there were 2,82,879 undertrials and 1,31,517 convicts lodged across 1,387 prisons in the country as on December 31, 2014.<br /><br />The dominant position in India, established through judgments of the Supreme Court, is that the right to vote is not a fundamental right or a constitutional right but a statutory right that can be enjoyed on certain terms as determined by the legislature.<br /><br />The SC has observed that a person is in prison because of his or her conduct, and cannot claim equal rights as others who are not incarcerated.<br /><br />Human rights activists, however, have criticised the voting ban on the ground that it makes no offence-based or sentence-based classification &mdash; that is, prisoners are debarred from voting irrespective of the gravity of the offence they have committed, or the length of their sentence. It also makes no distinction between convicted prisoners, undertrials, and those in lawful police custody.<br /><br />&ldquo;In my opinion, undertrials should be allowed to vote. This is because there are many people, awaiting trial, who have spent more time in prison than the actual term their alleged crime merits. Their numbers are much bigger than convicts,&rdquo; said Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, founder of the Association of Democratic Reforms, an advocacy group that works on electoral reforms.<br /><br />&ldquo;As for convicts, I am not entirely convinced that each one of them should be disenfranchised,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There are different kinds of punishments &mdash; corrective, repudiative, exemplary. I think this issue needs more debate. 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Only those under preventive detention can cast their vote through postal ballots.<br /> <br /> Headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena, the seven-member ECI panel was set up in April after the ECI received several representations, including one from former Delhi Police officer Satyavir Singh Rathi, on why prisoners should not be disenfranchised.<br /> <br /> An Assistant Commissioner of Police at the time, Rathi was convicted in an encounter case in Delhi&rsquo;s Connaught Place of 1997. He is serving sentence in Delhi&rsquo;s Tihar Jail at present.<br /> <br /> Sources told The Indian Express that the committee, of which the Bihar chief electoral officer (CEO) and the Delhi CEO are also members, is examining the practice followed by other countries. The UK, Austria, Russia and Armenia, for instance, do not allow prisoners to vote, while Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland do. Others such as Italy and Greece provide conditional permission under which prisoners with life sentence lose their right to vote.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;The committee has sought views of CEOs of all states to get an idea of ground realities,&rdquo; a source said. &ldquo;If the members agree to recommend voting rights for prisoners, then this can be done through either proxy voting or postal ballots, or mobile voting booths in prisons. But there are several logistical challenges to make this possible.&rdquo;<br /> <br /> The &lsquo;Prison Statistics India, 2014&rsquo; published by the National Crime Records Bureau, says there were 2,82,879 undertrials and 1,31,517 convicts lodged across 1,387 prisons in the country as on December 31, 2014.<br /> <br /> The dominant position in India, established through judgments of the Supreme Court, is that the right to vote is not a fundamental right or a constitutional right but a statutory right that can be enjoyed on certain terms as determined by the legislature.<br /> <br /> The SC has observed that a person is in prison because of his or her conduct, and cannot claim equal rights as others who are not incarcerated.<br /> <br /> Human rights activists, however, have criticised the voting ban on the ground that it makes no offence-based or sentence-based classification &mdash; that is, prisoners are debarred from voting irrespective of the gravity of the offence they have committed, or the length of their sentence. It also makes no distinction between convicted prisoners, undertrials, and those in lawful police custody.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;In my opinion, undertrials should be allowed to vote. This is because there are many people, awaiting trial, who have spent more time in prison than the actual term their alleged crime merits. Their numbers are much bigger than convicts,&rdquo; said Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, founder of the Association of Democratic Reforms, an advocacy group that works on electoral reforms.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;As for convicts, I am not entirely convinced that each one of them should be disenfranchised,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There are different kinds of punishments &mdash; corrective, repudiative, exemplary. I think this issue needs more debate. 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Election Commission panel to seek answer -Ritika Chopra' $metaKeywords = 'Prisoners,NCRB,National Crime Records Bureau,crime,Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act 1951,Representation of the People Act 1951,Election Commission (EC),Voting Rights,Prison Statistics India,Undertrials,Convicts,Human Rights' $metaDesc = ' -The Indian Express Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member...' $disp = '<div align="justify">-The Indian Express<br /><br /><em>Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. <br /></em><br />The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member committee to explore the possibility of lifting the ban on voting for prisoners.<br /><br />Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. Chapter 43 of the Reference Handbook on the General Elections, 2014, also excludes undertrial prisoners from participating in elections even if their names are on electoral rolls. Only those under preventive detention can cast their vote through postal ballots.<br /><br />Headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena, the seven-member ECI panel was set up in April after the ECI received several representations, including one from former Delhi Police officer Satyavir Singh Rathi, on why prisoners should not be disenfranchised.<br /><br />An Assistant Commissioner of Police at the time, Rathi was convicted in an encounter case in Delhi&rsquo;s Connaught Place of 1997. He is serving sentence in Delhi&rsquo;s Tihar Jail at present.<br /><br />Sources told The Indian Express that the committee, of which the Bihar chief electoral officer (CEO) and the Delhi CEO are also members, is examining the practice followed by other countries. The UK, Austria, Russia and Armenia, for instance, do not allow prisoners to vote, while Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland do. Others such as Italy and Greece provide conditional permission under which prisoners with life sentence lose their right to vote.<br /><br />&ldquo;The committee has sought views of CEOs of all states to get an idea of ground realities,&rdquo; a source said. &ldquo;If the members agree to recommend voting rights for prisoners, then this can be done through either proxy voting or postal ballots, or mobile voting booths in prisons. But there are several logistical challenges to make this possible.&rdquo;<br /><br />The &lsquo;Prison Statistics India, 2014&rsquo; published by the National Crime Records Bureau, says there were 2,82,879 undertrials and 1,31,517 convicts lodged across 1,387 prisons in the country as on December 31, 2014.<br /><br />The dominant position in India, established through judgments of the Supreme Court, is that the right to vote is not a fundamental right or a constitutional right but a statutory right that can be enjoyed on certain terms as determined by the legislature.<br /><br />The SC has observed that a person is in prison because of his or her conduct, and cannot claim equal rights as others who are not incarcerated.<br /><br />Human rights activists, however, have criticised the voting ban on the ground that it makes no offence-based or sentence-based classification &mdash; that is, prisoners are debarred from voting irrespective of the gravity of the offence they have committed, or the length of their sentence. It also makes no distinction between convicted prisoners, undertrials, and those in lawful police custody.<br /><br />&ldquo;In my opinion, undertrials should be allowed to vote. This is because there are many people, awaiting trial, who have spent more time in prison than the actual term their alleged crime merits. Their numbers are much bigger than convicts,&rdquo; said Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, founder of the Association of Democratic Reforms, an advocacy group that works on electoral reforms.<br /><br />&ldquo;As for convicts, I am not entirely convinced that each one of them should be disenfranchised,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There are different kinds of punishments &mdash; corrective, repudiative, exemplary. I think this issue needs more debate. Moreover, it&rsquo;s ironic that convicts can contest elections but cannot vote.&rdquo;</div>' $lang = 'English' $SITE_URL = 'https://im4change.in/' $site_title = 'im4change' $adminprix = 'admin'</pre><pre class="stack-trace">include - APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8 Cake\View\View::_evaluate() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1413 Cake\View\View::_render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1374 Cake\View\View::renderLayout() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 927 Cake\View\View::render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 885 Cake\Controller\Controller::render() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 791 Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 126 Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94 Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51</pre></div></pre>latest-news-updates/should-prisoners-be-allowed-to-vote-election-commission-panel-to-seek-answer-ritika-chopra-4680144.html"/> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/> <link href="https://im4change.in/css/control.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all"/> <title>LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Should prisoners be allowed to vote? Election Commission panel to seek answer -Ritika Chopra | Im4change.org</title> <meta name="description" content=" -The Indian Express Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member..."/> <script src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-1.10.2.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-migrate.min.js"></script> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript"> $(document).ready(function () { var img = $("img")[0]; // Get my img elem var pic_real_width, pic_real_height; $("<img/>") // Make in memory copy of image to avoid css issues .attr("src", $(img).attr("src")) .load(function () { pic_real_width = this.width; // Note: $(this).width() will not pic_real_height = this.height; // work for in memory images. }); }); </script> <style type="text/css"> @media screen { div.divFooter { display: block; } } @media print { .printbutton { display: none !important; } } </style> </head> <body> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="98%" align="center"> <tr> <td class="top_bg"> <div class="divFooter"> <img src="https://im4change.in/images/logo1.jpg" height="59" border="0" alt="Resource centre on India's rural distress" style="padding-top:14px;"/> </div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td id="topspace"> </td> </tr> <tr id="topspace"> <td> </td> </tr> <tr> <td height="50" style="border-bottom:1px solid #000; padding-top:10px;" class="printbutton"> <form><input type="button" value=" Print this page " onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%"> <h1 class="news_headlines" style="font-style:normal"> <strong>Should prisoners be allowed to vote? Election Commission panel to seek answer -Ritika Chopra</strong></h1> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%" style="font-family:Arial, 'Segoe Script', 'Segoe UI', sans-serif, serif"><font size="3"> <div align="justify">-The Indian Express<br /><br /><em>Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. <br /></em><br />The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member committee to explore the possibility of lifting the ban on voting for prisoners.<br /><br />Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. Chapter 43 of the Reference Handbook on the General Elections, 2014, also excludes undertrial prisoners from participating in elections even if their names are on electoral rolls. Only those under preventive detention can cast their vote through postal ballots.<br /><br />Headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena, the seven-member ECI panel was set up in April after the ECI received several representations, including one from former Delhi Police officer Satyavir Singh Rathi, on why prisoners should not be disenfranchised.<br /><br />An Assistant Commissioner of Police at the time, Rathi was convicted in an encounter case in Delhi’s Connaught Place of 1997. He is serving sentence in Delhi’s Tihar Jail at present.<br /><br />Sources told The Indian Express that the committee, of which the Bihar chief electoral officer (CEO) and the Delhi CEO are also members, is examining the practice followed by other countries. The UK, Austria, Russia and Armenia, for instance, do not allow prisoners to vote, while Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland do. Others such as Italy and Greece provide conditional permission under which prisoners with life sentence lose their right to vote.<br /><br />“The committee has sought views of CEOs of all states to get an idea of ground realities,” a source said. “If the members agree to recommend voting rights for prisoners, then this can be done through either proxy voting or postal ballots, or mobile voting booths in prisons. But there are several logistical challenges to make this possible.”<br /><br />The ‘Prison Statistics India, 2014’ published by the National Crime Records Bureau, says there were 2,82,879 undertrials and 1,31,517 convicts lodged across 1,387 prisons in the country as on December 31, 2014.<br /><br />The dominant position in India, established through judgments of the Supreme Court, is that the right to vote is not a fundamental right or a constitutional right but a statutory right that can be enjoyed on certain terms as determined by the legislature.<br /><br />The SC has observed that a person is in prison because of his or her conduct, and cannot claim equal rights as others who are not incarcerated.<br /><br />Human rights activists, however, have criticised the voting ban on the ground that it makes no offence-based or sentence-based classification — that is, prisoners are debarred from voting irrespective of the gravity of the offence they have committed, or the length of their sentence. It also makes no distinction between convicted prisoners, undertrials, and those in lawful police custody.<br /><br />“In my opinion, undertrials should be allowed to vote. This is because there are many people, awaiting trial, who have spent more time in prison than the actual term their alleged crime merits. Their numbers are much bigger than convicts,” said Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, founder of the Association of Democratic Reforms, an advocacy group that works on electoral reforms.<br /><br />“As for convicts, I am not entirely convinced that each one of them should be disenfranchised,” he said. “There are different kinds of punishments — corrective, repudiative, exemplary. I think this issue needs more debate. Moreover, it’s ironic that convicts can contest elections but cannot vote.”</div> </font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> </tr> <tr> <td height="50" style="border-top:1px solid #000; border-bottom:1px solid #000;padding-top:10px;"> <form><input type="button" value=" Print this page " onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form> </td> </tr> </table></body> </html>' } $cookies = [] $values = [ (int) 0 => 'text/html; charset=UTF-8' ] $name = 'Content-Type' $first = true $value = 'text/html; charset=UTF-8'header - [internal], line ?? Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emitHeaders() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181 Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emit() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 55 Cake\Http\Server::emit() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 141 [main] - ROOT/webroot/index.php, line 39
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Chapter 43 of the Reference Handbook on the General Elections, 2014, also excludes undertrial prisoners from participating in elections even if their names are on electoral rolls. Only those under preventive detention can cast their vote through postal ballots.<br /> <br /> Headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena, the seven-member ECI panel was set up in April after the ECI received several representations, including one from former Delhi Police officer Satyavir Singh Rathi, on why prisoners should not be disenfranchised.<br /> <br /> An Assistant Commissioner of Police at the time, Rathi was convicted in an encounter case in Delhi’s Connaught Place of 1997. He is serving sentence in Delhi’s Tihar Jail at present.<br /> <br /> Sources told The Indian Express that the committee, of which the Bihar chief electoral officer (CEO) and the Delhi CEO are also members, is examining the practice followed by other countries. The UK, Austria, Russia and Armenia, for instance, do not allow prisoners to vote, while Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland do. Others such as Italy and Greece provide conditional permission under which prisoners with life sentence lose their right to vote.<br /> <br /> “The committee has sought views of CEOs of all states to get an idea of ground realities,” a source said. “If the members agree to recommend voting rights for prisoners, then this can be done through either proxy voting or postal ballots, or mobile voting booths in prisons. But there are several logistical challenges to make this possible.”<br /> <br /> The ‘Prison Statistics India, 2014’ published by the National Crime Records Bureau, says there were 2,82,879 undertrials and 1,31,517 convicts lodged across 1,387 prisons in the country as on December 31, 2014.<br /> <br /> The dominant position in India, established through judgments of the Supreme Court, is that the right to vote is not a fundamental right or a constitutional right but a statutory right that can be enjoyed on certain terms as determined by the legislature.<br /> <br /> The SC has observed that a person is in prison because of his or her conduct, and cannot claim equal rights as others who are not incarcerated.<br /> <br /> Human rights activists, however, have criticised the voting ban on the ground that it makes no offence-based or sentence-based classification — that is, prisoners are debarred from voting irrespective of the gravity of the offence they have committed, or the length of their sentence. It also makes no distinction between convicted prisoners, undertrials, and those in lawful police custody.<br /> <br /> “In my opinion, undertrials should be allowed to vote. This is because there are many people, awaiting trial, who have spent more time in prison than the actual term their alleged crime merits. Their numbers are much bigger than convicts,” said Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, founder of the Association of Democratic Reforms, an advocacy group that works on electoral reforms.<br /> <br /> “As for convicts, I am not entirely convinced that each one of them should be disenfranchised,” he said. “There are different kinds of punishments — corrective, repudiative, exemplary. I think this issue needs more debate. 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Only those under preventive detention can cast their vote through postal ballots.<br /><br />Headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena, the seven-member ECI panel was set up in April after the ECI received several representations, including one from former Delhi Police officer Satyavir Singh Rathi, on why prisoners should not be disenfranchised.<br /><br />An Assistant Commissioner of Police at the time, Rathi was convicted in an encounter case in Delhi’s Connaught Place of 1997. He is serving sentence in Delhi’s Tihar Jail at present.<br /><br />Sources told The Indian Express that the committee, of which the Bihar chief electoral officer (CEO) and the Delhi CEO are also members, is examining the practice followed by other countries. The UK, Austria, Russia and Armenia, for instance, do not allow prisoners to vote, while Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland do. Others such as Italy and Greece provide conditional permission under which prisoners with life sentence lose their right to vote.<br /><br />“The committee has sought views of CEOs of all states to get an idea of ground realities,” a source said. “If the members agree to recommend voting rights for prisoners, then this can be done through either proxy voting or postal ballots, or mobile voting booths in prisons. But there are several logistical challenges to make this possible.”<br /><br />The ‘Prison Statistics India, 2014’ published by the National Crime Records Bureau, says there were 2,82,879 undertrials and 1,31,517 convicts lodged across 1,387 prisons in the country as on December 31, 2014.<br /><br />The dominant position in India, established through judgments of the Supreme Court, is that the right to vote is not a fundamental right or a constitutional right but a statutory right that can be enjoyed on certain terms as determined by the legislature.<br /><br />The SC has observed that a person is in prison because of his or her conduct, and cannot claim equal rights as others who are not incarcerated.<br /><br />Human rights activists, however, have criticised the voting ban on the ground that it makes no offence-based or sentence-based classification — that is, prisoners are debarred from voting irrespective of the gravity of the offence they have committed, or the length of their sentence. It also makes no distinction between convicted prisoners, undertrials, and those in lawful police custody.<br /><br />“In my opinion, undertrials should be allowed to vote. This is because there are many people, awaiting trial, who have spent more time in prison than the actual term their alleged crime merits. Their numbers are much bigger than convicts,” said Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, founder of the Association of Democratic Reforms, an advocacy group that works on electoral reforms.<br /><br />“As for convicts, I am not entirely convinced that each one of them should be disenfranchised,” he said. “There are different kinds of punishments — corrective, repudiative, exemplary. I think this issue needs more debate. 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Only those under preventive detention can cast their vote through postal ballots.<br /> <br /> Headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena, the seven-member ECI panel was set up in April after the ECI received several representations, including one from former Delhi Police officer Satyavir Singh Rathi, on why prisoners should not be disenfranchised.<br /> <br /> An Assistant Commissioner of Police at the time, Rathi was convicted in an encounter case in Delhi’s Connaught Place of 1997. He is serving sentence in Delhi’s Tihar Jail at present.<br /> <br /> Sources told The Indian Express that the committee, of which the Bihar chief electoral officer (CEO) and the Delhi CEO are also members, is examining the practice followed by other countries. The UK, Austria, Russia and Armenia, for instance, do not allow prisoners to vote, while Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland do. Others such as Italy and Greece provide conditional permission under which prisoners with life sentence lose their right to vote.<br /> <br /> “The committee has sought views of CEOs of all states to get an idea of ground realities,” a source said. “If the members agree to recommend voting rights for prisoners, then this can be done through either proxy voting or postal ballots, or mobile voting booths in prisons. 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It also makes no distinction between convicted prisoners, undertrials, and those in lawful police custody.<br /> <br /> “In my opinion, undertrials should be allowed to vote. This is because there are many people, awaiting trial, who have spent more time in prison than the actual term their alleged crime merits. Their numbers are much bigger than convicts,” said Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, founder of the Association of Democratic Reforms, an advocacy group that works on electoral reforms.<br /> <br /> “As for convicts, I am not entirely convinced that each one of them should be disenfranchised,” he said. “There are different kinds of punishments — corrective, repudiative, exemplary. I think this issue needs more debate. 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Election Commission panel to seek answer -Ritika Chopra' $metaKeywords = 'Prisoners,NCRB,National Crime Records Bureau,crime,Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act 1951,Representation of the People Act 1951,Election Commission (EC),Voting Rights,Prison Statistics India,Undertrials,Convicts,Human Rights' $metaDesc = ' -The Indian Express Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member...' $disp = '<div align="justify">-The Indian Express<br /><br /><em>Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. <br /></em><br />The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member committee to explore the possibility of lifting the ban on voting for prisoners.<br /><br />Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. Chapter 43 of the Reference Handbook on the General Elections, 2014, also excludes undertrial prisoners from participating in elections even if their names are on electoral rolls. Only those under preventive detention can cast their vote through postal ballots.<br /><br />Headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena, the seven-member ECI panel was set up in April after the ECI received several representations, including one from former Delhi Police officer Satyavir Singh Rathi, on why prisoners should not be disenfranchised.<br /><br />An Assistant Commissioner of Police at the time, Rathi was convicted in an encounter case in Delhi’s Connaught Place of 1997. He is serving sentence in Delhi’s Tihar Jail at present.<br /><br />Sources told The Indian Express that the committee, of which the Bihar chief electoral officer (CEO) and the Delhi CEO are also members, is examining the practice followed by other countries. The UK, Austria, Russia and Armenia, for instance, do not allow prisoners to vote, while Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland do. Others such as Italy and Greece provide conditional permission under which prisoners with life sentence lose their right to vote.<br /><br />“The committee has sought views of CEOs of all states to get an idea of ground realities,” a source said. “If the members agree to recommend voting rights for prisoners, then this can be done through either proxy voting or postal ballots, or mobile voting booths in prisons. But there are several logistical challenges to make this possible.”<br /><br />The ‘Prison Statistics India, 2014’ published by the National Crime Records Bureau, says there were 2,82,879 undertrials and 1,31,517 convicts lodged across 1,387 prisons in the country as on December 31, 2014.<br /><br />The dominant position in India, established through judgments of the Supreme Court, is that the right to vote is not a fundamental right or a constitutional right but a statutory right that can be enjoyed on certain terms as determined by the legislature.<br /><br />The SC has observed that a person is in prison because of his or her conduct, and cannot claim equal rights as others who are not incarcerated.<br /><br />Human rights activists, however, have criticised the voting ban on the ground that it makes no offence-based or sentence-based classification — that is, prisoners are debarred from voting irrespective of the gravity of the offence they have committed, or the length of their sentence. It also makes no distinction between convicted prisoners, undertrials, and those in lawful police custody.<br /><br />“In my opinion, undertrials should be allowed to vote. This is because there are many people, awaiting trial, who have spent more time in prison than the actual term their alleged crime merits. Their numbers are much bigger than convicts,” said Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, founder of the Association of Democratic Reforms, an advocacy group that works on electoral reforms.<br /><br />“As for convicts, I am not entirely convinced that each one of them should be disenfranchised,” he said. “There are different kinds of punishments — corrective, repudiative, exemplary. I think this issue needs more debate. Moreover, it’s ironic that convicts can contest elections but cannot vote.”</div>' $lang = 'English' $SITE_URL = 'https://im4change.in/' $site_title = 'im4change' $adminprix = 'admin'
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Should prisoners be allowed to vote? Election Commission panel to seek answer -Ritika Chopra |
-The Indian Express
Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member committee to explore the possibility of lifting the ban on voting for prisoners. Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. Chapter 43 of the Reference Handbook on the General Elections, 2014, also excludes undertrial prisoners from participating in elections even if their names are on electoral rolls. Only those under preventive detention can cast their vote through postal ballots. Headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena, the seven-member ECI panel was set up in April after the ECI received several representations, including one from former Delhi Police officer Satyavir Singh Rathi, on why prisoners should not be disenfranchised. An Assistant Commissioner of Police at the time, Rathi was convicted in an encounter case in Delhi’s Connaught Place of 1997. He is serving sentence in Delhi’s Tihar Jail at present. Sources told The Indian Express that the committee, of which the Bihar chief electoral officer (CEO) and the Delhi CEO are also members, is examining the practice followed by other countries. The UK, Austria, Russia and Armenia, for instance, do not allow prisoners to vote, while Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland do. Others such as Italy and Greece provide conditional permission under which prisoners with life sentence lose their right to vote. “The committee has sought views of CEOs of all states to get an idea of ground realities,” a source said. “If the members agree to recommend voting rights for prisoners, then this can be done through either proxy voting or postal ballots, or mobile voting booths in prisons. But there are several logistical challenges to make this possible.” The ‘Prison Statistics India, 2014’ published by the National Crime Records Bureau, says there were 2,82,879 undertrials and 1,31,517 convicts lodged across 1,387 prisons in the country as on December 31, 2014. The dominant position in India, established through judgments of the Supreme Court, is that the right to vote is not a fundamental right or a constitutional right but a statutory right that can be enjoyed on certain terms as determined by the legislature. The SC has observed that a person is in prison because of his or her conduct, and cannot claim equal rights as others who are not incarcerated. Human rights activists, however, have criticised the voting ban on the ground that it makes no offence-based or sentence-based classification — that is, prisoners are debarred from voting irrespective of the gravity of the offence they have committed, or the length of their sentence. It also makes no distinction between convicted prisoners, undertrials, and those in lawful police custody. “In my opinion, undertrials should be allowed to vote. This is because there are many people, awaiting trial, who have spent more time in prison than the actual term their alleged crime merits. Their numbers are much bigger than convicts,” said Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, founder of the Association of Democratic Reforms, an advocacy group that works on electoral reforms. “As for convicts, I am not entirely convinced that each one of them should be disenfranchised,” he said. “There are different kinds of punishments — corrective, repudiative, exemplary. I think this issue needs more debate. Moreover, it’s ironic that convicts can contest elections but cannot vote.” |