Arrest of sitting CM on eve of polls constitutes 'threat to democracy': Aiyar

A day after Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the ED, Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Thursday said the arrest of a sitting chief minister, that too on the very eve of a general election, constitutes an immediate and long-term "threat to democracy and presages the end of constitutional democracy in India".

Kejriwal, the national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Delhi chief minister, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in an excise policy-linked money laundering case on Thursday.

In a statement, Aiyar said the "unprecedented arrest of a sitting CM, and that too on the very eve of a general election after the promulgation of the Model Code of Conduct, constitutes an immediate and long-term threat to democracy and presages the end of constitutional democracy in India".