27 APR 2024
Credit: Google Images
Credit: Google Images
Amritpal Singh, the chief of 'Waris Punjab De', currently resides in a prison in Dibrugarh, Assam while Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi CM is in Tihar jail.
Credit: Google Images
The link between these two disparate individuals lies in the Lok Sabha elections.
Credit: Google Images
Despite being a Khalistan sympathizer, Singh is allowed to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Dibrugarh jail. In contrast, Kejriwal, an elected representative, is barred from voting.
Credit: Google Images
This situation exposes a contradiction in Indian electoral procedures, where individuals can contest elections from within prison walls, but cannot vote from there.
Credit: Google Images
Credit: Google Images
Since Amritpal Singh has not been convicted yet, he can contest the election. Even the ones who are convicted can contest six years after the end of their jail term.
Credit: Google Images
A jailed person, like Amritpal Singh, can file their nomination papers from the prison with the help of a representative. In case a jailed candidate wins the elections, he or she can be released from jail to take the oath, as there is no provision to administer the oath inside the prison, according to experts.
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Section 62 (5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 states that no person can vote in any election if they are in lawful custody of the police or confined in a prison.
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Hence, a representative can't cast someone's vote. Sunita Kejriwal, who stepped into the spotlight following her husband Arvind Kejriwal's arrest, will be campaigning for the AAP, but can't do more on his behalf, like casting a vote.
Credit: Google Images
Credit: Google Images
> In 1996, don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari contested Uttar Pradesh's Mau Assembly seat on a BSP ticket while he was in prison. Ansari, who died last month, won the election from jail. > Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav was in jail in the fodder scam case during the 1998 Lok Sabha election. He contested Bihar's Madhepura Lok Sabha seat and won from jail.