The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in view of elections, per news agency PTI.
Enforcement Directorate (ED) has opposed SC’s grant of interim bail to Kejriwal on ground of electioneering and said no such precedents available.
ED added that granting Kejriwal interim bail for 21 days will not make much of a difference.
SC said a reasoned order granting interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal to follow.
Refusing the request of his counsel to grant him interim bail till June 5, the apex court asked the Delhi Chief Minister to surrender and go back to jail on June 2.
On Thursday, the Directorate of Enforcement filed a sharply-worded affidavit in the apex court saying 123 elections happened in the last five years alone and if politicians are given bail for campaigning, none of them can be even arrested as elections in India are an “all-year-round-phenomenon”.
The right to campaign is not a fundamental right or a constitutional right or a legal right, it added.
Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader J Kavitha and Kejriwal’s AAP colleague and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, both accused in the excise policy case, were denied interim relief by the apex court, the ED reminded.
- Also read: ED alleges Arvind Kejriwal as “kingpin” of Delhi liquor scam, claims involvement in conspiracy
Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21 in connection with a money laundering probe. relating to alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22.