Rajya Sabha Polls: Bombay High Court To Hear Nawab Malik & Anil Deshmukh's Plea To Vote Tomorrow

NCP leaders Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh have approached the Bombay High Court for temporary release to cast their vote for the Rajya Sabha election slated for tomorrow.The duo approached the High Court after the Special PMLA court dismissed their applications citing section 62(5) of the Representation of People's Act.After Malik's counsels mentioned the matter before Justice PD Naik, he granted circulation and agreed to hear their petition at 10.30am tomorrow.In his order special judge RS Rokade accepted that there were divergent views with regard to the voting rights of undertrials, however, he noted that voting was not a fundamental right but a statutory right."The Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of "Anukul Chandra Pradhan" (supra) in clear terms held that, "any person who is confined in prison while serving a sentence of imprisonment on his conviction for any offence or is under lawful confinement in a prison or in a police custody for any reason is not entitled to vote in any election".Moreover, having regard to the word "shall" in section 62(5) of the Representation of People's act, the court was disinclined to accept Deshmukh's counsel's contention that an undertrial prisoner was excluded from the section.Regarding the arguments that Chhagan Bhujbal, as an undertrial was allowed to vote, the court observed that there was a difference between voting for Presidential Elections and Rajya Sabha Elections."The Presidential Election is governed by the Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections Act, 1952. There is no any provisions under the said Act to prohibit the undertrial to cast vote in the Presidential Elections."Both NCP leaders are in judicial custody in separate cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) Act. While Deshmukh is in Arthur Road prison, Malik has been admitted to the hospital.According to the ED, Deshmukh had misused his position as state home minister and collected Rs 4.70 crore from various bars in Mumbai through some police of officers. He was arrested in November 2021,Malik was arrested by the ED on February 23 this year in a money laundering case linked to the activities of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aides.After more than two decades, the state will witness a contest in the Rajya Sabha polls as there are seven candidates in the fray for the six seats.The ruling Shiv Sena has fielded two candidates, its MVA allies NCP and Congress have nominated one candidate each, while the opposition BJP has put up three candidates.The contest for the sixth seat lies between BJP's Dhananjay Mahadik and Shiv Sena's Sanjay Pawar.

Rajya Sabha Polls: Bombay High Court To Hear Nawab Malik & Anil Deshmukh's Plea To Vote Tomorrow

Sharmeen Hakim

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