New Delhi: A special court in Mumbai on Thursday rejected the bail applications of former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and minister Nawab Malik seeking a day's relief to cast their votes in the June 10 Rajya Sabha elections. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had opposed the pleas of Deshmukh and Malik, saying that prisoners have no voting rights under the Representation of the People Act. The senior NCP leaders Deshmukh and Malik are currently in jail for different cases of money laundering.
The two had filed applications before special judge R N Rokade last week seeking temporary bail. On Wednesday, all the parties completed their arguments in favour and against this bail application, after which the court had reserved its decision for Thursday.
Earlier during the hearing, the ED had said that the bail application deserves to be rejected. Deshmukh was arrested by the ED in November 2021.
“It is pertinent to mention that prisoners do not have voting rights under the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The right to vote is a statutory right created under Section 62 of the Act and the law is settled that the ‘right to vote being a statutory right is subject to the restrictions prescribed in the Act’,” the ED reply states.
The ED had told the special court that Deshmukh is the prime accused in the money laundering case registered against him and is currently in judicial custody after his arrest in November.
According to the ED, Deshmukh misused his position as home minister of the state and extorted Rs 4.70 crore from various bars in the city through some police officers. Malik was arrested by the ED on February 23 this year in a money laundering case related to activities involving fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his associates.