SC presses scale to return Arvind Kejriwal to AAP

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SC grants 21-day interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal

By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi, May 10: The Supreme Court on Friday granted an interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The apex court has granted the bail the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor till June 1.

The SC granted the interim bail to Kejriwal despite stiff opposition by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). There is no precedent to grant bail on grounds to campaign in elections, reasoned the ED in its submissions before the SC.

The AAP had almost turned into a headless chicken in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections after the ED arrested the top campaigner of the party ruling in Delhi and Punjab. The AAP was not able to build party’s campaign in Gujarat where the party had a strong entry in the Assembly elections last year.

Senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi in his remarks to the media said that the interim bail to the Delhi Chief minister has affirmed the faith of the people in the judiciary. The SC has granted bail to Kejriwal when Lok Sabha elections for Punjab and Delhi will be held in the sixth and the seventh phases.

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While the ED argued that there had been no precedent for granting interim bail for elections, the defence counsels argued the case of Hardik Patel from Gujarat. The apex court had granted Patel interim bail before the 2018 Assembly elections to contest the poll in the state.

Kejriwal has become possibly the first politician to get a bail within two months of the arrest by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Scores of politicians are languishing in jails after arrests by the ED for several months which includes the likes of Satyender Jain and Manish Sisodia from the ranks of the AAP.

The ED faced some tough questions from the apex court on timing of the arrest of the Delhi Chief Minister. The SC asked why the Chief Minister wasn’t arrested before or after even while a case was registered one and a half years ago in the alleged Delhi excise scam.

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The Opposition had implored upon the Election Commission to restore the level playing field in the Lok Sabha elections. They had argued that the arrests of the Opposition leaders ahead of the Lok Sabha elections had deprived them of the level playing field.

The SC has said that Kejriwal will have to surrender on June 2. The apex court will pass detailed order later.

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