New Delhi, July 11: A senior official of Tihar, Asia’s biggest jail, today said prisoners have never been allowed to vote.

“The law prohibits prisoners from casting their vote,” said Tihar law officer Sunil Gupta.

He said Section 62 (5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, says no person confined in a prison, whether under sentences of imprisonment or transportation or otherwise, can vote in any election to a legislative body.

“The only exceptions to this are those caught under preventive sections of the law. But in jails we do not keep detainees,” Gupta said.

Section 60 (B) of the act permits those arrested under preventive sections to vote through postal ballots.

Gupta’s comment came a day after the Supreme Court said convicted prisoners and undertrials couldn’t vote. The judgment — part of the one that barred convicted lawmakers from contesting elections for six years after completing their jail terms, if any — was uploaded today.

Meenakshi Lekhi, a lawyer, however, said the government had allowed two Italian marines, accused of shooting two Kerala fishermen, to go to their country to vote.

Tihar houses over 12,000 prisoners and none of them has ever been allowed to vote, Gupta said, as it is against the law. “About 65 per cent of the prisoners have their names registered on electoral roles,” he added.

Another jail official at Tihar said there have been several cases where prisoners have contested elections from inside the prison. “Noticing this discrepancy, the National Human Rights Commission had written to the government last year seeking voting rights for prisoners,” the official said.

He said there was no confusion any more after the Supreme Court’s order.