In India, voting cannot remain merely a statutory right
The Right to Vote: A Constitutional Perspective
This editorial argues that Indian constitutional jurisprudence has created a conceptual mismatch: while the Supreme Court has historically treated the right to vote as statutory rather than fundamental, later decisions have constitutionally protected many core aspects of electoral participation, producing a paradox.
It recounts the traditional doctrine that the right to vote and the right to contest are not fundamental rights but arise from election statutes, citing early rulings such as N.P. Ponnuswami (1952) and later confirmations including Jyoti Basu (1982) and Kuldip Nayar (2006). The editorial explains that this approach is rooted in the Constitution’s structure: Article 326 mandates universal adult suffrage, while the Constitution does not explicitly place voting in Part III fundamental rights, leaving Parliament discretion over election qualifications, disqualifications and procedures.
Understand the implications of the right to vote being treated as statutory over constitutional.
