Over 10,000 prisoners in Keralas jails excluded from SIR
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: More than 10,000 prisoners lodged in jails across the state will not be part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the office of the Chief Election Officer has said. The reason: SIR guidelines do not mention how to execute the process in the case of prisoners. Senior officials with the office of the CEO-Kerala said prisoners will not be considered for SIR as they are not ordinarily residents of their address since they are in jail. They will have to apply again for inclusion in electoral roll upon their release, the officials said, adding that the eligibility will be decided by the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO). As of October 20, there were more than 10,053 prisoners 9,802 men and 251 women housed in around 57 jail institutions in the state. They include 4,598 remand prisoners, 1,130 undertrials and 4,004 convicts. Being carried out based on the electoral rolls as of October 27, the SIR process in the state began on November 4. SIR guidelines only mention that individuals above 18, who are ordinarily residents of their address, and are otherwise not disqualified from voting, may be included in the process, said a higher official with the CEO office. With the current provisions, all prisoners convicts, remand prisoners and others will be excluded from the process, the official said. When a person is jailed, he/she is not permitted to vote. However, their names will not be removed from the electoral roll. As of October 20, there were more than 10,053 prisoners housed in around 57 jail institutions in the state. But since the conditions are different here and the prisoners cannot be treated as ordinarily residents of their address, we dont have a legal provision to accommodate them in the SIR process, the official said. They will have to reapply as a fresh voter to be part of the electoral roll, the final decision of which rests with the ERO, the official added. Complete denial of democratic rights: Karassery Speaking about the issue, writer and social activist M N Karassery said this is a complete denial of democratic rights. A person, sometimes a remand prisoner, may be found innocent within weeks or months after being arrested and jailed. It is immaterial whether they vote or not, but arent they supposed to have their names in the voters list? he said, adding that this could have long-standing implications. In India, a person can contest in an election even if he/she is in prison. But if you are off the electoral roll, your right to contest in an election gets challenged, he told TNIE .
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