Felons are a part of country and they deserve the right to vote
Felons are a part of country and they deserve the right to vote
Indian government does not allow the children, people deemed unsound of mind and criminals to vote. It is clearly mentioned in the section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The denial to give right to vote to the criminals attracts lots of criticism from many people. They often demand to bring amendments in the law. Do you think that felons should be allowed to vote?
Yes
• When they are not deprived of all other rights then why should they be deprived from casting their votes?
• Felons understand the difference between right and wrong. They choose the wrong way by their own will. It doesn’t mean that they can’t cast right votes.
• Felons in any case will select the candidates that are nominated from the different parties. So how does it matter if felons are allowed to vote?
• If the country has the right to punish the felons then even the felons should get the right to vote. All things should move in tandem.
• The politicians standing in the General Elections don’t have a clear background. If they are allowed to participate as the party’s candidate then why can’t criminals be allowed to vote?
• Criminals are made from the unfavorable circumstances. They cannot be judged as bad. They should be given their right.
No
• The children and the people deemed unsound of mind are not allowed to vote because they don’t understand the difference between right and wrong. Same is the case with felons and that is why they are criminals.
• If the criminals are allowed to vote it can give rise to many logistical issues and will require extra resources.
• Politicians can utilize the opportunity and can easily attract the criminal votes by luring them with money and all other things.
• Voting is made for the people who follow the rules and respect the democratic form of government. It is not for the people who are always inclined towards breaking the laws.
• By taking a wrong path in life, people have to pay some price. They themselves revoke the right to vote. Even if they are allowed they will mock at the system and nothing else.
• People who argue that criminals are human; we respect their perception and agree to give human rights to the felons. But in any case they won’t be allowed to have civic rights.
Conclusion
There is always a probability that some innocent person was caught in the wrong circumstances that made him criminal. But because of a rare probability, all the criminals cannot be given a soft stance. They did wrong to the society and even don’t feel sorry about it. It makes no sense in giving voting rights to such people. However, government can think and draw a timeframe during which if a person lives a normal life, then he should be given the right to vote.
Discussion
- RE: Felons are a part of country and they deserve the right to vote -Deepa Kaushik (04/22/14)
- Felons are the anti-social elements of the society who are found guilty of committing a crime. Not every person who is punished for a crime is actually a accused. Many of them are framed criminals who are made to accept someone else’s crime due to their requirement of a livelihood to save their family. There are few others who have committed an offense due to the circumstances and not by a bad intent.
With so many sub-classes of criminals, it is not fair to categorise felons as a negative character in the society. They might be good by intent and have a correct judgement of the righteous person to cast their vote. Right to vote is the right of every Indian citizen. When we don’t care to state a clause for the candidates to contest elections only with the clear legal records, then how can we stop a felon of casting his right to vote?
We don’t give this right to the children and mentally ill people. If we analyse that way, then felons definitely have a different mind-set as compared to other normal people. Though we cannot call them mentally sick, still they are not all the normal with their emotions. Also, the criminals casting vote can be additive mark to the corrupt politicians who can buy these people for their selfish issues of power. Here, giving such a major authority of choosing a leader for the nation, into the hands of a felon is highly dangerous.
Looking through the pros and cons, in current scenario, we can just prevent some more harm to the nation by not allowing the felons to cast the vote.
