Supreme Court verdict on Kejriwal's interim bail likely today
The ED filed an affidavit in the SC opposing his petition and said that laws are equal for all and that campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls is not a fundamental, constitutional, or even a legal right
The Supreme Court may deliver its verdict on Friday (May 10) on interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was arrested on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case linked to the alleged liquor policy scam.
The chief minister is now seeking a release from jail to campaign for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
A bench, comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, had reserved its verdict on interim bail to Kejriwal on May 7.
Kejriwal, who is also the national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), is currently lodged in Tihar jail under judicial custody.
The bench has divided the hearing on Kejriwal's petition against his arrest into two parts. While his main petition challenges his arrest by the central probe agency and seeks it to be declared as “illegal”, the second aspect pertains to the grant of interim bail keeping in mind the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
The Delhi High Court had on April 9 upheld the AAP chief's arrest, saying there was no illegality and that the probe agency was left with “little option” after he skipped repeated summonses and refused to join the investigation related to alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22.
Earlier on Tuesday, a Delhi court extended Kejriwal's judicial custody in the money laundering case till May 20.
The ED on Thursday filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court opposing his petition and said that laws are equal for all and that campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls is not a fundamental, constitutional, or even a legal right.
The probe agency said that no political leader has ever been granted bail for campaigning and said that letting Kejriwal out of jail to canvas for AAP candidates would set a wrong precedent.
Stating that Kejriwal had sought interim bail primarily for campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections, the agency submitted, “It is relevant to note that the right to campaign is neither a fundamental right nor a constitutional right and not even a legal right.”
All seven seats in Delhi will vote in the sixth phase of the seven-phased Lok Sabha elections on May 25.