Arvind Kejriwal Bail: The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the Delhi Liquor Policy case to campaign for Lok Sabha elections 2024. The top court allowed interim release for Kejriwal for campaigning but said that he must surrender on June 2. The seventh and last phase of the Lok Sabha election will take place on June 1.
A bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta noted that 21 days here or there should not make a difference and he can surrender on June 2 after finishing election campaign. The court also said that it will try to complete hearing Kejriwal's petition challenging the arrest by ED at the earliest.
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ED Opposes Interim Release, Says No Precedent
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on Friday again appealed to the apex court that there is no such precedent of allowing interim release for the purpose of election campaign. However, the top court did not budge to any of ED's arguments and said it can present its a case against him when the next hearing starts on petition challenging his arrest by the ED.
Justice Khanna observed that "21 days will not make any difference. Let us not draw parallels with any other case. ECIR was registered in 2022. He was arrested in March 2024...For 1.5 years he was there...he could have been arrested before or after also. Whatever it is... 21 days here or there should not make any difference."
ED on Thursday filed a fresh affidavit before the Supreme Court and opposed interim bail for Kejriwal saying that the right to campaign in polls is neither fundamental nor constitutional. The central agency further contended that Kejriwal is not contesting Lok Sabha polls and no political leader has ever been given interim bail for election campaigning. In response to this affidavit Kejriwal's legal team filed a complaint against ED, calling it an abuse of legal process. They contended that ED filed the affidavit without apex court's permission.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned hearing the interim bail plea. On Wednesday, the Justice Sanjiv Khanna while presiding over another case said that Kejriwal's plea will be taken up on Friday and the court is inclined to pass an order on the same day.
The apex court on Tuesday said that in case it grants interim bail to Kejriwal it does not want him to perform any official duty as the Chief Minister. Following this, Arvind Kejriwal told the Supreme Court today that he is willing to furnish an undertaking stating that he will not sign any official files if released on interim bail.
The top court said that Kejriwal performing official functions of a Chief Minister while on interim bail may have cascading effect.
"I will not sign any file but the Delhi LG cannot deny any permission taken by other officers in the government." Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi told the court on Arvind Kejriwal's behalf.
This came after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for Centre told the apex court that a law was brought in for appointment for personnel in administration cadre where the Chief Minister has to sign and only those files were signed by Kejriwal and he never signed any files.
In a previous hearing the bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta had observed that as the arguments in the case are expected to prolong, the top may consider interim bail due to the upcoming elections on May 25. On Tuesday, the bench started hearing the interim bail plea after ED told the court that it needs more time to conclude arguments on legality of arrest.