Former home minister Anil Deshmukh approached the Bombay High Court on Monday seeking to be released for a day on June 20 to cast his vote in elections to the Maharashtra Legislative Council.
Deshmukh was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in November 2021 in an alleged money laundering case. He was subsequently arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) this April in a corruption case. At present, he is in judicial custody.
The NCP leader has filed an application in the bail plea filed by him earlier this year.
Inderpal Singh, Deshmukh's advocate, mentioned the application for an urgent hearing before Justice N J Jamadar.
The court had kept the matter for hearing on June 15.
"In the application, Deshmukh has sought to be released on a bond on June 20 so as to enable him to cast his vote in the MLC elections," Singh said.
Last week, Deshmukh had sought permission from a special court to be released on June 10 to cast his vote in the Rajya Sabha elections. However, the special court and later the HC refused him permission.
The elections for 10 seats in the Upper House of the state Legislature will be held on June 20.
Members of the state Legislative Assembly constitute the electoral college for the MLC polls.
The ruling Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress in the state have nominated two candidates each, while the opposition BJP has fielded six candidates for the MLC polls.
Plea by Nawab Malik
The plea of Malik, a sitting cabinet minister, was mentioned before a single bench of Justice Bharati Dangre. His lawyer Kushal Mor sought permission to get Malik's plea tagged with Deshmukh's application and for both the matters to be heard on June 15 by Justice Jamadar.
Justice Dangre asked Mor to mention the matter on June 14 (Tuesday).
Malik's lawyers Taraq Sayed and Kushal Mor had initially sought to amend an earlier petition filed by the state minister challenging a special court order refusing to release him on June 10 for voting in the Rajya Sabha polls.
Sayed told a single bench of Justice P D Naik that the prayers are still the same and that only the date would have to be amended from June 10 to June 20.
Justice Naik, however, noted that the cause of action was different and that Malik's earlier petition had become infructuous as the elections he wanted to vote in (Rajya Sabha) was over.
"You (Malik) will have to file a fresh plea seeking to be released on June 20 for the MLC elections," Justice Naik said, indicating he was not inclined to allow the amendment.
Malik's lawyers then withdrew the earlier petition and said they would file a fresh one.
Malik was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on February 23 this year in connection with a money laundering probe linked to the activities of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and his aides.
(With inputs from agencies)
