BCJ detainees flex democratic muscle

VADODARA, Aug 29: For the first time in the 118-year-old history of the Baroda Central Jail, detainees were allowed to exercise their dem...

VADODARA, Aug 29: For the first time in the 118-year-old history of the Baroda Central Jail, detainees were allowed to exercise their democratic right through the postal ballot on Saturday.

A recent Supreme Court judgement made it possible for seven detainees 8212; three from Bharuch and two each from Banaskantha and Bhavnagar 8212; to vote for their choice of candidates. Their ballots, which had been sent to them by their respective returning officers, were sealed in their presence and sent off by registered post, as they must reach by 6 am on September 6 to be valid.

Though the BCJ currently has 1500 inmates, the majority are either convicts or undertrials, who, under law, are not eligible to cast their votes. The Supreme Court, in its ruling a fortnight ago, only detainees 8212; that is, people detained for interrogation and for protection of public peace 8212; can cast their votes. There are 100 of them in the BCJ.

Unlike the regular ballots, the postal ballots sent to the jail did not bear the candidates8217; election symbols. They only mentioned the names of candidates and their party names; in case of Independent candidates, that, too, was mentioned.

Moreover, the voting detainees had to indicate their choice of candidate by marking his/her name with a cross. Illiterate candidates are helped by the jail authorities. The ballot paper is sealed in an envelope in the detainee8217;s presence, and sent to the returning officer of the constituency concerned by registered post, according to Jail Superintendent Ramniwas Meena.

More ballot papers are expected to arrive at the jail as most of the detainees have requested their families to talk to the returning officers concerned. Meena said papers that arrived late could be sent back by Speedpost as they had to reach the returning officers by 6 am on September 6.

Incidentally, Meena said jail inmates had raised the issue of their franchise through the Qaidi Panchayat a week before the Supreme Court judgement was delivered. 8220;I was in a fix because there was no precedence to something like this. I wanted to contact the seniors, but before that, we received news of the Supreme Court ruling8221;, he said, adding, however, that convicts and undertrials were upset by the their exclusion.