Nagpur: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday opposed the bail plea filed by senior NCP leader and former Maharashtra Home minister Anil Deshmukh to cast their vote in the Rajya Sabha elections on June 10.
The former home minister and current cabinet minister Nawab Malik filed their bail from Arthur road jail on Monday to cast their votes in the crucial Rajya Sabha polls. The Enforcement Directorate told the special PMLA court on Tuesday that he (Anil Deshmukh) is the main accused in the money laundering case and that the prisoners cannot demand voting rights.
The ED also closed doors for Malik who was arrested in February in another money laundering case.
Tassine Sultan, the investigating officer of ED, filed a short reply in both the bail pleas that said, “It is pertinent to mention that prisoners do not have voting rights under the Representation of People (RP) Act. The right to vote is a statutory right created under section 62 (right to vote) of the RP Act and the law is settled that the ‘right to vote be being a statutory right is subject to restrictions prescribed in the RP Act. Hence, the application is liable to be rejected at the very threshold.”
