Sonal Bhargava | Prabhat Bandhulya
Nawab Malik, a Maharashtra cabinet member, and Anil Deshmukh, a former State Home Minister, have applied to the Bombay High Court for a day's bail to vote in the Rajya Sabha elections. The appeal was filed in response to an order issued by special judge RN Rokade this morning, which denied the two MPs' request for permission to vote. To nullify the special judge's order, the High Court has received two different writ petitions under Article 227 of the Constitution and Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Since the Rajya Sabha elections are slated for June 10(Today), two MPs from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have requested immediate relief. According to the petitioners, only the elected MLAs, a total of 288 people, will be present at the Vidhan Bhavan to vote. As a result, it's unlikely that the presence of both Deshmukh and Malik at the polling station will sway any voters or prevent the election from being conducted in a free and fair manner. Malik also claimed in his petition that he represents thousands of residents in his constituency and that it is his constitutional duty to ensure that the voice of the electorate reaches parliament because he was unable to do so himself. It was further stated that because these are not General Elections, there will be no difficulty in escorting Deshmukh to the guarded confines of Vidhan Bhavan (Legislative Assembly) and returning him. The two ministers argued in front of the special court that an elected representative's ability to vote cannot be taken away unless he or she is convicted. Furthermore, it was stressed that slapping elected members with bogus First Information Reports (FIR) and then denying them the right to vote would have major ramifications.