Bombay High Court: Bombay High Court declares that contesting elections is not a fundamental right | Mumbai News

Mumbai: Participating in elections is not a fundamental right, the Bombay High Court on Thursday as it rejected a preliminary bail plea filed by a member of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Digambar Agawanein a money laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Agawane, who had been in jail since January 2024, applied for temporary bail to file his nomination form and campaign, saying he wanted to contest the upcoming elections. Elections to the Legislative Assembly in Maharashtra. His counsel, Ujjwalkumar Chavhan, cited the Supreme Court’s bail verdict in Arvind Kejriwal’s case to support his plea for freedom. Supreme Court single judge Manish Pitale, after hearing the objections of ED Special Public Prosecutor Sandesh Patil, said Agawane does not meet the grounds relied on by the Supreme Court – including that the investigation against Kejriwal has already was pending for some time. for a long time, since August 2022, and he was a sitting Chief Minister of Delhi, a leader of a national party, with no criminal record and no threat to society.
The ED said Agawane has criminal antecedents with 12 FIRs against him. Justice Pitale noted in his order that some of the FIRs against Agawane concern serious criminal offences, including attempt to murder and the Maharashtra Protection of Organized Crime Act and the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) Act (MPID), and thus on at first glance, at At this stage it cannot be said that he does not pose a threat to society.
Agawane’s plea was that all FIRs were registered at the behest of the then sitting Member of Parliament (MP) of Phaltan Loksabha constituency to ‘harass’ him and take ‘personal revenge’ over a 2022 complaint that he (Agawane) had filed against the Member of Parliament.
The Supreme Court did not accept his plea at this stage that all the FIRs against him were at the behest of the then sitting MP and noted that some FIRs were from banks and public sector individuals who had made serious allegations of being “duped”.
Agawane argued that the ED cannot claim or use the previous FIRs against him to allege criminal antecedents. Agawane “is certainly not a sitting Prime Minister or leader of a national party,” the Supreme Court noted, adding that he therefore “cannot claim relief simply by relying” on the Supreme Court’s order in favor of Kejriwal.
The plea for interim bail cited urgency as the last date of nominations is October 29. The High Court rejected his plea and posted it for a regular bail hearing on November 18.