MLC polls: SC declines temporary release of jailed NCP MLAs to cast votes

The Supreme Court Monday declined the plea of jailed Nationalist Congress Party leaders and MLAs Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh seeking temporary release from prison to cast their votes in the Maharashtra Legislative Council electionA vacation bench of Justices C T Ravikumar and Sudhanshu Dhulia however issued notice to the Maharashtra government and others in the case and agreed to examine the issue relating to the interpretation of Section 625 of the Representation of the People Act 1951 which bars jailed persons from votingIn view of the larger question with respect to interpretation of Section 625 of Representation of the People Act 1951 we are of the view that matter has to be heard in detail Its open for the parties to complete the pleadings within four weeks the bench saidOn the question of interim relief taking note of the fact that the constitutional validity of Section 625 was upheld by the Supreme Court in the Anukul Chandra Pradhan Vs Union of India case and S Radhakrishnan Vs Union of India we are not inclined to grant interim relief the bench addedAlso Read Maharashtra MLC polls 246 MLAs cast vote results to be declared in eveningAt the outset senior advocate Meenakshi Arora appearing for the jailed lawmakers submitted that not permitting the two from voting in MLC elections will effectively impact the rights of all voters who had elected the two lawmakersPeople have sent me to the Legislative Assembly I represent their choice and decisionmaking in the Legislative Assembly If I am deprived of my right to vote the right of all those persons who voted for me has also been taken away she saidThe senior lawyer said rather than being a statutory right the right to vote is also a constitutional rightRight to vote is not a fundamental right but is certainly a constitutional right and the right originates from the Constitution she saidSolicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the Enforcement Directorate submitted that the embargo under Section 625 of the Representation of the People Act 1951 applies to MLAs tooEarlier in the day Arora mentioned the matter saying that the plea needed to be heard on Monday itself as the polling is being held todayThe bench had said such matters have to go before the Chief Justice of India CJI first before allowing an urgent listingIn respect of matters listed during the vacation there is a circular and the matter has to go before the CJI the bench had saidHowever it took note of the vehement submission of the senior lawyer and said it would see whether the matter can be taken up for hearing in the afternoonThe Bombay High Court had on June 17 rejected the NCP leaders plea seeking temporary release from prison for casting their ballots saying the constitutional right to vote is not absoluteMalik who is still a cabinet minister in the state and former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh both of whom are in prison after being arrested in separate money laundering and corruption cases had sought the courts permission to be let out of custody for a few hours and under escort protection to voteThe senior counsel said that the matter needed an urgent hearing today itself as the jailed MLAs have the right to vote in the MLC electionsThe high court had rejected the pleas of the leaders saying that while their lawyers argued that their clients must be permitted to vote to uphold democratic principles the concept of democracy transcended electoral democracyThe embargo in law imposed via section 62 5 of the Representation of the People Act was based on reason the high court had said adding that it has been imposed to ensure purity of electoral process and probity of the participants thereinThe two leaders had moved the court earlier contending that as they are members of the Legislative Assembly and representatives of their respective constituencies they ought to be given the opportunity to vote in the Council electionThe claim to the exercise of this constitutional right can by no stretch of the imagination be said to be absolute the high court had said in the judgementEarlier Malik and Deshmukh had moved the courts for temporary bail for voting in the June 10 Rajya Sabha election from Maharashtra but were denied reliefThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever