Legal Status of the Right to Vote
Why it Matters?
The Supreme Court's hearing on Bihar's electoral roll revision has sparked debate over the legal status of the right to vote.
What You Should Know?
Article 326 of the Constitution grants every citizen above 18 years the right to vote without discrimination, subject to legal disqualifications.
Section 16 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, disqualifies non-citizens from being enrolled in electoral rolls.
Section 19 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 requires voters to be 18 years or older and ordinarily resident in a constituency.
Judicial Pronouncements:
In N.P. Ponnuswami v. Returning Officer (1952), the Supreme Court held that the right to vote is a statutory right.
In Jyoti Basu v. Debi Ghosal (1982), the Supreme Court reiterated that voting is neither a fundamental nor common law right.
In People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) v. Union of India (2003), Justice P.V. Reddy opined voting is a constitutional right, if not fundamental.
In Anoop Baranwal v. Union of India (2023), the majority held voting continues to be a statutory right. Justice Ajay Rastogi, in his dissent in Anoop Baranwal, linked the right to vote to Article 19(1)(a) (freedom of expression). He noted that the right to vote is intrinsic to free and fair elections, which form part of the basic structure of the Constitution.