RS polls: Court to decide on temporary bail pleas of Anil Deshmukh, Nawab Malik on June 9

A special court here on Wednesday reserved till Thursday its order on the bail pleas of former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh and state minister Nawab Malik seeking the one-day relief to cast their vote in the June 10 Rajya Sabha elections. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had opposed the pleas of Deshmukh and Malik, saying prisoners don't have the voting rights under the Representation of the People (RP) Act.

Deshmukh and Malik, both senior NCP leaders, are currently lodged in jail in connection with different money laundering cases.

The duo had last week filed applications seeking temporary bail before special judge R N Rokde.


On Wednesday, all the sides completed their arguments for and against the bail.

The ED had said that the bail applications are liable to be rejected at the very threshold.

Deshmukh was arrested in November 2021 by the ED.

"Being a standing MLA, the applicant (Deshmukh) is a member of the Electoral College for the election of members to the Rajya Sabha. The applicant is desirous to exercise his franchise and cast his vote," Deshmukh's bail application had said.

The ED had told the special court that Deshmukh is the main accused in the money laundering case registered against him and is currently in judicial custody after being arrested in November last year.

"Further, it is pertinent to mention that prisoners do not have voting rights under the Representation of People (RP) Act," the probe agency said.

The ED opposed Malik's plea on similar grounds.

As per 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 officers.

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 lies between BJP's Dhananjay Mahadik and Shiv Sena's Sanjay Pawar.