By Express News Service - BANGALORE
Published: 25th March 2014 08:15 AM
Last Updated: 25th March 2014 08:15 AM
Beggars at a rehabilitation centre on Magadi Road in Bangalore | Express Photo
Close to 600 beggars housed at a rehabilitation centre in the city will not get to vote, though they hold Voter ID and Aadhaar cards.
“Beggars are considered convicts. And many of them hail from other states,” an official at the Beggars Rehabilitation Centre on Magadi Road said.
Every month, police round up 20 to 45 beggars and send them to the centre. Around 581 convicts (as they are called), including women, live at the centre. They hail from Kerala, Odisha, Manipur and other states. The centre does not keep anyone for more than a year.
A superintendent said, “Of the 581, around 400 beggars hold voter ID and Aadhaar cards. This is to help them lead an independent life once they are released from the centre. But unless their term at the centre ends, they cannot vote.”
The centre teaches the inmates — 422 males and 159 females — livelihood skills, such as mat weaving and basket making. Most of them are aged between 30 and 50 years. Similarly, undertrials and inmates will not get to exercise their franchise.
M C Vishwanath, officer at the Parappana Agrahara Central Jail, said the 3,000-odd undertrials and 1,500 convicts have no voting rights. “That’s the law,” he said.
Postal Voting
Jagadeesh B N, advocate and human rights activist, said the problem could be addressed through postal ballot.
“It is a question of fundamental rights and the state government has to provide legal representation to beggars who have not committed any serious crime. They should vote, using the postal voting system,” he told Express.
Jayakumar S Patil, senior advocate, said people lawfully detained can’t expect to be taken to the booths for voting.