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Arvind Kejriwal: Second Sitting CM Arrested in Less Than Two Months Ahead of Lok Sabha Polls

The arrest came shortly after the Election Commission published all data, including unique numbers relating to electoral bonds, on its website. The Aam Aadmi Party has called Kejriwal’s arrest a ‘political conspiracy’ and moved the Supreme Court and sought an urgent hearing.
Arvind Kejriwal. Photo: X/video screengrab/@ArvindKejriwal.
Arvind Kejriwal. Photo: X/video screengrab/@ArvindKejriwal.

New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was on Thursday (March 21) arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the liquor policy case, becoming the second sitting chief minister to be arrested in less than two months.

Former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren was arrested on January 31 in a case of alleged money laundering linked to a land scam.

ED officials arrived at Kejriwal’s residence in the national capital, shortly after the Election Commission of India published on its website all details relating to the electoral bonds.

These details include the unique numbers of purchasers and political parties which encashed these bonds.

The State Bank of India released the information in compliance with the Supreme Court’s order, which directed the disclosure of all electoral bond details, including the unique identification code, by March 21.

Speaking to reporters after Kejriwal’s arrest, Aam Aadmi Party MLA Atishi said that the party will request the Supreme Court for an urgent hearing to quash his arrest, and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of a political conspiracy.

“We have received news that ED has arrested Kejriwal. It was clear by the heavy police and para military forces presence that the ED would arrest Kejriwal today. His arrest is a conspiracy by the prime minister Narendra Modi and the BJP. If there is any leader that the prime minister is scared of it is Kejriwal,” she said.

“In the last two years that this case has been going on, not a single rupee has been recovered by the ED and CBI. There have been thousands of raids but not a single rupee has been recovered. His arrest after the announcement of elections is a political conspiracy. If you think you finish Kejriwal’s ideology by arresting him, you are wrong. Kejriwal was, is and will remain Delhi chief minister. If necessary he will run the government from jail. There is no law that prohibits this. There has been conviction against him. We will continue to fight this.”

Earlier on Thursday, the Delhi high court refused to provide interim protection from any coercive action against Kejriwal in the liquor policy case.

“We have heard both sides. However, at this stage, we are not inclined [to pass any order],” a division bench, comprising Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Manoj Jain, was quoted as saying by LiveLaw.

Speaking to reporters after ED officials arrived at Kejriwal’s residence, Atishi said that the timing shows that the ED is being used as “political weapon of the BJP.”

“Within an hour of the court issuing notice, they (ED) arrived at the residence of Arvind Kejriwal. This shows that today, the ED is not an independent investigative agency. It is a political weapon of the BJP,” she told news agency PTI.

 

On March 15, Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K. Kavitha was also arrested by the ED in connection with the case.

Since 2022, a slew of top AAP leaders have been arrested in the case.

In October 2023, the ED had arrested AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh in a similar manner after day-long search operations at his house in connection with the same liquor policy case.

Former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia has also been arrested in the case and has been in jail since February 2023. The Supreme Court refused to grant him bail in October raising questions of targeted political persecution.

Earlier, another senior AAP leader and former health minister Satyendra Jain was arrested on June 1, 2022 for a case in which the ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report) was filed in 2017.

INDIA leaders condemn arrest

Kejriwal’s arrest comes on the same day when the Congress’s top leadership accused the BJP of “financially crippling” the party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections by freezing its bank accounts.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said on X (formerly Twitter) that “a scared dictator wants to create a dead democracy.”

“While capturing all the institutions including the media, breaking up the parties, extorting money from companies, freezing the account of the main opposition party was not enough for the ‘devilish power’, now the arrest of the elected Chief Ministers has also become a common thing.”

The Trinamool Congress has also condemned Kejriwal’s arrest by the ED while the Model Code of Conduct is in place.

“We vehemently condemn the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal, an elected CM, especially when EC (Election Commission) is in charge & MCC is in place,” TMC’s Derek O’Brien wrote on X.

 

“Earlier, his administrative powers were snatched through an illegal ordinance. How can we expect fair elections in India if sitting CMs & prominent opposition leaders are arrested weeks before polls? If SC & ECI fail to act now, who will stand with people against BJP’s oppressive politics in future?” he said.

In a statement, the CPI(M) said that “agencies openly acting as BJP instruments shamelessly even after the election notification process has started. People will defeat this conspiracy.”

Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule called Kejriwal’s arrest “motivated” and an attempt by the BJP government “to suppress the voice of the opposition & undermine the electorate at large. We are resilient and united in our fight for constitutional democracy.”

Electoral bonds data

While the ED has proceeded to arrest Kejriwal shortly after details of electoral bonds, including unique numbers, were published on the Election Commission’s website, The Wire has reported that the data itself reveals that top companies who purchased these bonds have faced action from the ED and the Income Tax department.

Future Gaming and Hotel Services Pvt Ltd and Megha Engineering Infrastructure Ltd are the top purchasers of electoral bonds from April 2019 to January 2024, having purchased bonds worth Rs 1,368 and Rs 980 crore, respectively. Both have been under the lens of the ED and Income Tax department, respectively.

According to a report by Scroll.in, Hyderabad-based businessman P. Sarath Chandra Reddy, one of the directors of Aurobindo Pharma Ltd and Kavitha’s co-accused, turned approver in the liquor policy case. He had donated Rs 5 crore to the BJP just five days after being arrested by the ED.

The BJP is the largest recipient of electoral bonds. It received a total of Rs 6,060.5 crore between April 12, 2019 and January 23, 2024.

The ED has come under criticism for what is considered “witch hunting” against the opposition with its unbridled powers.

There is a four-fold jump in ED cases since 2014; 95% of those cases are against opposition leaders.

Meanwhile, the agency itself has been functioning under acting director Rahul Navin since September 2023 with the Centre yet to find a replacement for Sanjay Kumar Mishra.

Mishra was appointed director in 2018 for two years as his term was controversially extended by the Union government. The Supreme Court had called his extension “illegal” but later allowed him to continue till September 15, 2023 “taking into consideration the larger public interest”.

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