Majority of detenues unwilling to cast votes

A majority of suspects detained under various detention laws are unwilling to vote in the upcoming Assembly election in Tamil Nadu. 

According to police sources, of the 2,147 detenues lodged in prisons across the State, only 66 will be exercising their franchise through postal ballot. Besides their unwillingness to vote, the drastically low electorate among inmates is attributed to the rule that renders detenues facing other criminal cases and those remanded in judicial custody ineligible to participate in the democratic process.

Going by the provisions under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, electors under preventive detention are entitled to vote. It says, “No person shall vote at any election if he/she is confined in a prison, whether under a sentence of imprisonment or transportation or otherwise, or is in the lawful custody of the police.” However, the rule will not apply to a person subjected to preventive detention under any law for the time being in force.

The sources said the State government had called for the list of detenues from the prison department soon after the Assembly election was notified to Tamil Nadu. A circular was sent to Jail Superintendents of all central prisons, special prisons for women and the district jail, Pudukottai. 

Apart from the male prisoners, 4 of the 47 women detenues confined to the special prisons for women expressed their willingness to vote. “We shared the details of the electors photo identity card and other documents to the Returning Officer of the respective districts to initiate the process of facilitating voting through postal ballot,” a prison official said on Wednesday.

Asked how the inmates would know of the political developments and candidates in fray, the official said the detenues had access to newspapers and television news bulletins — permitted under the prison rules — which would help them make electoral choices. No campaign material was allowed on the prison premises.

Who is a detenue?

Any person detained under the various detentions laws such as the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act 1974, Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1988, The National Security Act, 1980, the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug Offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders and Slum-Grabbers Act, 1982 (Tamil Nadu Act 14 of 1982).