{"id":78520,"date":"2026-07-07T18:31:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T13:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=78520"},"modified":"2026-07-07T18:32:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T13:02:33","slug":"voting-fundamental-right-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/07-07-2026\/voting-fundamental-right-india","title":{"rendered":"Should Voting Be a Fundamental Right in India?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/ Polity and Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Recently an old constitutional debate has been revived by demanding that voting should be recognised as a fundamental right.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Right to Vote in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Article 326<\/strong> of the Indian Constitution provides that every citizen of India, not less than<strong> 18 years of age <\/strong>is entitled to be registered as a voter for Elections to the House of the People and Legislative Assembly of every State on the basis of <strong>adult suffrage<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Originally, the minimum voting age under Article 326 was 21 years. <strong>The 61st Constitutional Amendment Act, 1988<\/strong> reduced it to 18 years.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Status of the Right to Vote in India:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In the <strong>N.P.Ponnuswami case (1952)<\/strong>, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court held that the right to vote is a <strong>statutory right.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Supreme Court in <strong>Kuldip Nayar v. Union of India (2006)<\/strong> held that the \u2018right to elect\u2019 is a<strong> statutory right<\/strong> under <strong>Section 62 of the RPA, 1951<\/strong>, and not a fundamental or constitutional right.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In the <strong>Jyoti Basu case (1982)<\/strong>, the court reiterated that the right to vote is neither a fundamental right nor a common law right but a <strong>statutory right.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Gradual Constitutionalisation of Voting Rights<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Supreme Court has progressively expanded constitutional protection to different aspects of voting through various judgements.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Right to Know (2002): <\/strong>In <strong>Union of India vs Association for Democratic Reforms, <\/strong>the Court recognised that voters have a fundamental right under <strong>Article 19(1)(a) <\/strong>to know the criminal background, educational qualifications, and financial assets of candidates.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Court held that an informed voter is essential for meaningful democratic participation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Freedom to Make an Informed Choice (2003):<\/strong> In <strong>People\u2019s Union for Civil Liberties vs Union of India<\/strong>, the Court distinguished between:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The right to vote, which remains statutory.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The freedom of voting, which includes making an informed choice and is protected under Article 19(1)(a).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why Should Voting Receive Constitutional Protection?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Basic Structure Doctrine: <\/strong>In <strong>Kesavananda Bharati vs State of Kerala<\/strong>, the Supreme Court held that democracy is part of the Constitution&#8217;s Basic Structure.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Since democracy cannot function without citizens participating in elections, voting represents the practical exercise of popular sovereignty.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Article 326 Provides Constitutional Recognition: <\/strong>The Constitution guarantees universal adult suffrage under Article 326 and the Parliament only prescribes procedural aspects through electoral laws.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Therefore, the citizen&#8217;s entitlement to participate in elections originates from the Constitution rather than ordinary legislation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Concerns Over Recognising Voting as a Fundamental Right<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Reduced Legislative Flexibility: <\/strong>Parliament&#8217;s ability to prescribe qualifications, disqualifications, and electoral procedures will face greater constitutional constraints and judicial scrutiny.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Excessive Judicialisation:<\/strong> Routine electoral matters, such as voter registration, electoral rolls, and polling procedures, could increasingly become subjects of constitutional litigation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Adequate Constitutional Safeguards<\/strong>: Universal adult suffrage under Article 326, along with the basic structure doctrine protecting democracy and free and fair elections, already provides substantial constitutional protection to voting rights.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Concluding remarks<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Supreme Court has progressively constitutionalised the electoral process by protecting voters&#8217; <strong>right to know, freedom of electoral choice, ballot secrecy, and the right to reject candidates through NOTA.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Given that democracy and free and fair elections form part of the Constitution&#8217;s Basic Structure, there is a compelling constitutional argument that the core right of every eligible citizen to vote deserves explicit constitutional protection, while allowing Parliament to regulate the procedural aspects of elections.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/lead\/in-india-voting-cannot-remain-merely-a-statutory-right\/article71190420.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong> Context <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Recently an old constitutional debate has been revived by demanding that voting should be recognised as a fundamental right. <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> Right to Vote in India <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Article 326 of the Indian Constitution provides that every citizen of India, not less than 18 years of age is entitled to be registered as a voter for Elections to the House of the People and Legislative Assembly of every State on the basis of adult suffrage. <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Originally, the minimum voting age under Article 326 was 21 years. The 61st Constitutional Amendment Act, 1988 reduced it to 18 years. <\/li>\n<p><a href=\" https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/07-07-2026\/voting-fundamental-right-india \" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78520"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78523,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78520\/revisions\/78523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}