IRPA BUCHAMMA Vs. STATE OF TELANGANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Whether an under trial prisoner has a right to vote in elections is the question involved in this writ petition.

(2.) The son of the petitioner, Irpa Rama Rao, was arrested in Cr.No.8 of 2021 of Cherla Police Station on 5/2/2021 and produced before the I Additional Judicial Magistrate of Fist Class (Special Court for Naxal Cases), Khammam, and remanded to judicial custody. Since then he is in judicial custody. It is stated that the son of the petitioner is an elected member of the Mandal Praja Parishad from Kurnapalli, Cherla Mandal; As on date, he is a voter in the election of the Telangana Legislative Council of Khammam Constitution; As the tenure of the previously elected members of the Telangana Legislative Council is expiring on 4/1/2022 and the term of the elected member comes to an end on 4/1/2022, the Election Commission of India (ECI) issued notification for conducting elections to the Telangana Legislative Council through its notification No.ECI/PN/92/2021 dtd. 9/11/2021; As per the schedule, the date of poll for electing the members of Telangana Legislative Council, Khammam District, is 10/12/2021.

(3.) It is further stated that as the son of the petitioner is in prison as an under trial prisoner, unless he is produced with escort before the concerned polling booth on 10/12/2021, he cannot exercise his right to vote for electing the Member of Telangana Legislative Council from Khammam Constituency. The members of the Telangana Legislative Council are to be elected by the elected candidates of Municipal Corporations, Municipalities, Nagar Panchayats, Cantonment Boards, Zilla Praja Parishads and Mandal Praja Parishads. The name of the son of the petitioner is shown at Sl.No.53 of the electoral roll for the polls at Polling Station 1 " " Bhadrachalam, Meeting Hall. It is the grievance of the petitioner that if her son is not allowed to cast his vote, his valuable right to vote for protecting the rights of people, who have elected him, will be defeated. It is contended that in order to protect the democratic right i.e. right to vote, which is a valuable right in democracy, it is just and necessary to enable him to cast vote on the date of polling.