Right to Vote in India

The Constitution establishes elections based on adult suffrage, while election laws operationalise the individual entitlement to vote. The Supreme Court has traditionally treated the right to vote as a statutory right, not an independent fundamental right. However, the voter’s freedom to express a choice through the ballot receives constitutional protection.

Constitutional foundation

Article 326 requires elections to the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies to be based on adult suffrage. Every citizen aged 18 years or above is entitled to registration as a voter, subject to constitutionally permitted disqualifications.

• Article 325 prohibits exclusion from electoral rolls solely on grounds of religion, race, caste or sex and bars special electoral rolls on these grounds.
• The 61st Constitutional Amendment Act, 1988 reduced the voting age from 21 to 18 years.
• Under Article 324, the Election Commission controls the preparation of electoral rolls and the conduct of elections.

Statutory entitlement and regulation

The Representation of the People Act, 1950 governs electoral rolls and qualifications for registration. Section 62 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 confers the right to vote upon persons entered in the relevant electoral roll, subject to statutory restrictions.

• Voting can be exercised only in accordance with the conditions, procedures and disqualifications prescribed by election law.
• Thus, adult suffrage has a constitutional foundation, but the enforceable individual entitlement is regulated by statute.

Fundamental-right dimension

In Jyoti Basu v. Debi Ghosal (1982), the Supreme Court described the right to elect as a statutory rather than a fundamental or common-law right. In PUCL v. Union of India (2003), it distinguished the statutory right to vote from the voter’s freedom to express a choice, which is protected by Article 19(1)(a).

• The legal entitlement to receive and cast a ballot must therefore be distinguished from the constitutional protection given to free electoral expression.