Ahead of the upcoming Karnataka Assembly polls, liquor baron Vijay Mallya on Friday said that it is his democratic right to vote in the state.
However, Mallya added that due to his legal battle before London’s Westminster Magistrates Court in connection with extradition case against him, he does not monitor politics closely.
“It is my democratic right to vote in Karnataka but as you know I am here and cannot travel. I haven’t been following the politics so closely so no opinion,” liquor baron told ANI.
Karnataka will go to polls on May 12 to elect representatives to the 225-member state assembly. The results will be out on May 15.
Further, commenting on his trial in the court he added that “It’s another day; we will know in court what happened.”
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 27 had attached the properties of liquor baron, under Section 83 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Section 83 of the Criminal Procedure Code mandates attachment of the property of an absconder.
Mallya is facing a trail in a UK Court, to rule if he can be extradited to India to face charges for financial irregularities involving a total amount of Rs 9,000 crores, as well as money laundering cases.
Earlier in January, the Court extended the bail of liquor baron Vijay Mallya to April 2 in connection with the case.
In April last year, Mallya was arrested by Scotland Yard on an extradition warrant. He is out on bail on a bond worth 650,000 pounds.
Apart from this case, the High Court of London on February 12 ordered Mallya to pay an estimated USD 90 million to a Singapore-based aircraft leasing company in claims.
The case involves a number of aircraft leased by Vijay Mallya’s now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines from BOC Aviation in 2014.