MVA suffers a major setback when the court denies Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh one-day bail

The Maha Vikas Aghadi was dealt a major blow on Thursday when the PMLA court denied NCP leaders Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh's request for bail for a day to participate in the June 10 Rajya Sabha elections. The votes of the duo were crucial in the election of four ruling alliance nominees: Sanjay Raut and Sanjay Pawar (Shiv Sena), Praful Patel (NCP) and Imran Pratapgarhi (Congress). The BJP has three candidates: Piyush Goyal, Anil Bonde, and Dhananjay Mahadik. 

 

Following the court's decision to deny bail to Malik and Deshmukh, the MVA's membership was reduced to 166, and the quota was reduced to 40.67 votes. Malik, a Maharashtra minister, has been imprisoned since his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in February in a money laundering case. Deshmukh, the former home minister, is also imprisoned on similar charges. They had asked for a day's bail to vote in the Rajya Sabha election on Friday, but the court agreed with the Enforcement Directorate that "prisoners do not have voting rights."

 

MVA is counting on independents and smaller parties for support, while Bahujan Vikas Aghadi, which has three MLAs, has yet to reveal its strategy. The BJP, for its part, has claimed that it has enough votes, particularly from independents and smaller parties, to ensure the victory of three nominees. The BJP has also promised legal aid if legislators from the ruling coalition cross-vote.

 

"We expected Malik and Deshmukh to be able to exercise their voting rights in the Rajya Sabha election tomorrow." However, we are disappointed with the court ruling," said Jayant Patil, state NCP chief and Water Resources Minister. "We had demanded that a person who had been democratically elected but had not yet been convicted of a crime be allowed to vote. However, the court denied their request, depriving them of their right. Will not comment on the decision of the court. Patil stated that the next steps in this matter will be decided by the lawyers of Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh.

 

However, a senior NCP minister stated that MVA partners, along with independents and smaller parties, have enough votes for four nominees to win. Meanwhile, the NCP, Shiv Sena, and Congress held separate training workshops for their legislators today on how to cast their first and second preference votes in order to avoid confusion and invalid votes. The BJP, on the other hand, held legislative meetings in the presence of former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who has recovered from COVID-19, and union minister Ashwini Vaishnav, the party's poll observer.

 

 

Image Courtesy: Twitter @fpjindia