Supreme Court to examine law on jailed MLAs' right to cast vote

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said it will examine the law on rights available to imprisoned members of legislative assembly (MLAs) to vote even as it denied interim relief to two imprisoned Maharashtra MLAs to cast vote in state legislative council elections.

Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh and cabinet minister Nawab Malik had sought to be released temporarily for a day to cast their votes in the legislative council (MLC) elections held on Monday.

The court, however, observed that the petition raised a crucial legal question pertaining to the right of an MLA to vote in MLC elections on behalf of his constituency. "It is slightly undemocratic," a division bench orally observed about a person who has been elected to the assembly but cannot vote in the MLC elections.