The prison sources has said on Monday that a majority of detenues has lodged in central prisons across Tamil Nadu have opted not to exercise their franchise in the Assembly elections and a thousand suspects have been detained under the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug Offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders and Slum-Grabbers, Act, 1982 or popularly known as the Goondas Act in the State.
Sources have stated that the remand prisoners, convicts and under-trials are not entitled to cast their vote, the detenues are eligible to exercise their franchise as they are detained as a preventive action by the executive and not the judiciary.
The eligible voters would exercise their franchise on postal ballots in the respective Jail Superintendent’s office on May 16. Suspects involved in grave crimes whose presence in the society is a threat to maintenance of Law and Order are detained under the Goondas Act.
An official has told that there could be many reasons why the detenues may not like to vote. Some of them could get released from prison if their detention is set aside by the appellate authority. Since officials will make field verification, some might not want their friends or neighbors to know that they are in jail.
