The Delhi High Court on Wednesday denied immediate relief to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a plea challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in the Delhi excise policy case.
The High Court issued a notice to the ED seeking its response on Kejriwal’s plea within a week. The next date of hearing has been scheduled for April 3.
Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21 after the High Court refused to allow any protection from arrest to the Delhi Chief Minister. With his arrest, Kejriwal became the first sitting CM to be arrested in the history of India. All other chief ministers who faced similar coercive action by agencies had either resigned or installed a replacement ahead of their arrest.
The Delhi CM is currently in the ED’s custody and is housed at the agency’s headquarters in the national capital. In his submissions during the hearing, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Kejriwal, argued that there were “glaring issues” with the Delhi CM’s arrest and remand.
Singhvi had argued that the arrest of a sitting CM just ahead of elections with the code of conduct in place amounted to impinging upon the basic structure of the Constitution. “This arrest is impinging on the level playing field,” Singhvi said.
The Aam Aadmi Party maintains that Kejriwal will continue to run the govenrment from jail, if needed, and ruled out the question of his resignation. The party also plans to stage a massive protest in Delhi on March 31 against Kejriwal’s arrest.