MUMBAI: Arguing for NCP leaders Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik to be released for a day from prison to enable them to vote in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, Malik’s lawyer Amit Desai drew parallels on Wednesday with MLA Chhagan Bhujbal who was allowed to vote in the Presidential elections in 2017 despite being in custody in a money laundering case.
Desai told the special PMLA court that Malik was seeking to “enforce” his duty as a legislator not his rights. “The validity of the vote is for the returning officer to decide,” he submitted before special judge RN Rokade, “Malik is only seeking the ability to go to the floor of house and cast his ballot…If I am not allowed…I am prejudiced, my party is prejudiced…,” Desai said. He added that even a person who has criminal antecedents can stand for elections.
