India, Oct. 10 -- The Supreme Court on Friday sought responses from the Centre and the Election Commission (EC) on a petition challenging the blanket ban on voting rights for prisoners who are undertrials or pre-trial detainees and have not yet been convicted.

A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Bhushan R. Gavai and Justice K. Vinod Chandran was hearing a petition filed by lawyer Sunita Sharma, which urged the court to lay down guidelines for an individualised determination by restricting the voting ban to persons convicted of certain specified offences or based on the duration of the sentence.

The petition suggested that, as a consequential direction, if voting rights are extended to prisoners, polling stations can be set up in pri...