Overview
- The Congress renewed its demand on Sunday to elevate the right to vote from a statutory provision under Article 326 and the Representation of the People Act, 1951 to a constitutionally protected fundamental right.
- Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh accused the Election Commission of India of running in a 'blatantly partisan' manner and said making voting fundamental would allow stronger Supreme Court oversight of the electoral process.
- The push follows Friday’s Supreme Court ruling that walking on a demarcated footpath is a fundamental right, which Congress cited as a legal precedent that strengthens its argument for broader judicial protection of voting.
- The party pointed to large-scale name deletions reported during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls as the immediate grievance that constitutional protection would help address by preventing arbitrary exclusions.
- Changing voting’s status would need either a new Supreme Court interpretation or a constitutional amendment, a difficult legal and political route that Congress has not yet advanced through formal legislation or a court petition.