Prisoners do not have right to vote: ED opposes Anil Deshmukh’s plea

Deshmukh had on Friday filed the plea seeking temporary release for a day to cast his vote at the Rajya Sabha elections scheduled to be held on June 10.

Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday opposed the plea filed by former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh in the special MP/MLAs court seeking permission to cast vote at the elections for six Rajya Sabha seats. The central agency contended that prisoners do not have voting rights under provisions of the Representation of the Peoples (RP) Act, 1950.

Deshmukh was arrested in connection with the money laundering aspect of the corruption case registered against him (ANI)

Deshmukh had on Friday filed the plea seeking temporary release for a day to cast his vote at the Rajya Sabha elections scheduled to be held on June 10. Acting on Deshmukh’s plea, the special court had earlier asked the ED to file their response to the plea.

Accordingly, the ED on Tuesday filed their reply, claiming the plea was liable to be rejected. “Right to vote is a statutory right, created under section 62 of the RP Act, and the law is settled that ‘right to vote being a statutory right is subject to restrictions prescribed in the RP Act,” ED’s assistant director Taasine Sultan said in the affidavit.

Section 62(5) of the RP Act states that no person shall vote at any election if he is confined in a prison, whether under a sentence of imprisonment or transportation or otherwise, or is in the lawful custody of the police.

Maharashtra minority development minister Nawab Malik has also filed a similar plea and both the applications are scheduled to be heard by the special court on Wednesday. Both Deshmukh and Malik are currently in judicial custody after arrest by the ED.

Deshmukh was arrested in connection with the money laundering aspect of the corruption case registered against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), whereas Malik was arrested by ED in connection with a money laundering case it registered against fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar and some of his close associates. Deshmukh was subsequently also arrested by the CBI.