Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi liquor policy scandal. However, the court refrained from ruling on the demands for Mr. Kejriwal’s resignation, stating uncertainty about its authority to direct an elected leader to step down.
“We are conscious Arvind Kejriwal is an elected leader and the Chief Minister of Delhi… a post holding importance and influence. We do not give any direction… as we are doubtful if a court can direct an elected leader to step down, or not to function as a Chief Minister or a Minister,” the Supreme Court noted. “But we leave it to Arvind Kejriwal to make the call…”
Since his arrest, Mr. Kejriwal has faced multiple demands to resign, predominantly from leaders and workers of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who have protested frequently and vociferously. His party, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has repeatedly dismissed these demands, pointing out that Mr. Kejriwal has not been convicted and maintaining that the charges are untrue and unsubstantiated.
Numerous Public Interest Litigations (PILs) have been filed in both the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court, seeking directives to force Mr. Kejriwal to step down. In May, the Supreme Court dismissed one such plea, ruling it had “no legal merit” and stating that Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena “doesn’t need our guidance… we are nobody to advise him…”
In the previous month, the High Court rejected a similar plea for the third time, recalling a similar dismissal in 2019 when Mr. Kejriwal faced prosecution in an unrelated case. “Prosecution is going on. He may get acquitted. What will you do then?” the High Court had asked.
While out on interim bail for election campaigning in May, Mr. Kejriwal explained his refusal to resign, arguing that doing so would set a precedent allowing the government to target other opposition leaders, including Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee. “The chief minister’s post is not important for me. I did not step down as the chief minister because a conspiracy was hatched to force me to resign on a fake case,” he stated.
The opposition, particularly the Congress-led INDIA coalition, has often accused the BJP of using federal probe agencies like the ED and CBI to target rivals, a charge the BJP routinely denies.
Mr. Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in March and subsequently given bail last month by a city court. However, his release was halted following the ED’s last-minute appeal in the High Court, which claimed lapses in judgment. Consequently, Mr. Kejriwal was re-arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), making the recent bail from the Supreme Court temporarily nullified.
The AAP leader then moved to the Supreme Court, which granted him interim bail to campaign in the Lok Sabha election against the High Court’s stay. Initially, the Supreme Court dismissed Mr. Kejriwal’s plea, noting that the High Court had not delivered its final order at the time but also observed that the High Court’s actions were “unusual.”
The ED’s allegations against Mr. Kejriwal involve money laundering while framing the Delhi liquor policy for 2021-22, later scrapped after the Lieutenant Governor raised concerns. The ED claims that the money involved, around ? 100 crore, was used to fund AAP’s poll campaigns in Goa and Punjab. Both Mr. Kejriwal and the AAP have denied these charges, calling them political vendetta and noting that the ED has not found any alleged bribe money despite extensive searches.
