New Delhi. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear today his petition challenging the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a money laundering case related to Delhi’s alleged liquor scam. Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is very hopeful about getting good news from the Supreme Court today. Delhi Cabinet Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj has said that AAP is confident that the Supreme Court will allow Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections.
In the Supreme Court, the bench of Justice Sanjeev Khanna and Justice Dipankar Dutta can hear the petition of CM Kejriwal. Regarding this, Saurabh Bhardwaj said, ‘We are sure that to save democracy and protect the election system in this country, the Supreme Court will definitely allow Arvind Kejriwal to campaign.’
Let us tell you that Arvind Kejriwal had earlier told the apex court that his ‘illegal arrest’ in this case is an unprecedented attack on the principles of democracy based on ‘free and fair elections’ and ‘federalism’. CM Kejriwal said that the manner and timing of his arrest just before the Lok Sabha elections speaks volumes about the ‘arbitrariness’ of the agency. He has said that his arrest took place at a time when the model code of conduct related to elections had come into force.
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Kejriwal claimed that it is a ‘flagrant case’ of how the Center has misused the ED and its wide powers under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to ‘crush’ the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its leaders. It claimed that five days after the announcement of the general elections and the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct, the ED illegally ‘caught’ a sitting Chief Minister and the national coordinator of one of the national opposition parties. Kejriwal said level playing field was a prerequisite for ‘free and fair elections’ but his illegal arrest was a clear violation of it.
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Let us tell you that ED had arrested Kejriwal on March 21, because the Delhi High Court had refused to grant him protection from punitive action in this case. He is currently lodged in Tihar jail under judicial custody.
On April 9, the High Court had upheld Kejriwal’s arrest in the money laundering case and said that there was nothing illegal in it. The High Court said that after repeatedly issuing summons and refusing to join the investigation, the ED was left with ‘fewer options’. The case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22, which was later cancelled. (with language input)
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Tags: Arvind kejriwal, Enforcement directorate, Loksabha Election 2024, Loksabha Elections, Supreme Court
FIRST PUBLISHED: April 29, 2024, 06:39 IST