Allow Pregnant Women To Use Postal Ballot Privilege, Telangana HC Asks EC

The Telangana High Court recently asked the Election Commission of India to consider allowing pregnant women and 'women who are in the family way' to cast a vote by postal ballot. The court issued this statement while addressing a PIL that sought the court's action on allowing pregnant women to avail of postal ballots. 

As per the reports, the division bench of Chief Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice R Raghunandan Rao said, "Be that as it may, we dispose of the present Writ Petition (Public Interest Litigation) with a direction to the respondents that they should view the present petition as a representation on which an appropriate decision be taken by Election Commission of India to consider as to whether ladies who are in family way should be permitted to cast their vote through postal ballot or not.”

What did the PIL demand?

In our country, the process or privilege of casting a vote through postal ballots is reserved for senior citizens above 85 years of age. However, the petitioner, represented by Sr. Advocate Sudhanshu S. Choudhary, said that pregnant women too must be allowed this privilege. Citing Section 60 of the Representation of People Act, 1951, which invests power in the hands of the Election Commission of India to decide which class should avail of the postal ballot, the petitioner said that it should consider allowing pregnant women too to vote through the postal ballot. The court recognised that the chief argument of the PIL was to allow postal ballot privilege to 'ladies who are in family way.' 

Election Commission of India Response

On the other hand, the respondent Election Commission of India, represented by Advocate Avinash Desai, acknowledged the issue and called it valid. However, it said that the election had already started. So they said that they would consider making the amendment in the next election. 

The court concluded the proceedings by stating that the Election Commission of India should evaluate the PIL as a representation and decide if 'ladies who are in a family way' should be allowed to vote by postal ballot. With this, the court dismissed the petition.