ED tells Supreme Court Arvind Kejriwal cannot be granted bail for election campaigning

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday vehemently opposed the Supreme Court's suggestion to grant interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections [Arvind Kejriwal v. Directorate of Enforcement].In an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, the central agency said that the right to campaign for elections is neither a fundamental, legal nor a constitutional right."To the knowledge of the deponent no political leader has been granted interim bail for campaigning even though he is not the contesting candidate. Even a contesting candidate is not granted interim bail if he is in custody for his own campaigning ... around 123 elections have taken place in the last 5 years and if interim bail is to be granted for the purpose of campaigning in an election, then no politician can be arrested and kept in judicial custody since elections are all year round," the affidavit said..In a federal structure, no one election is more significant than another, the ED contended."Every politician at every level would argue that if he is not let out on interim bail, he would suffer irreversible consequences. Under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act alone presently there are many politicians who are in judicial custody and their cases are examined by competent courts upholding their custody. There must be several political leaders in judicial custody throughout the country in non-PMLA offences. There is no reason why a special prayer for a special treatment by the petitioner be acceded to," it was submitted. Kejriwal is currently in Tihar jail after he was arrested by the ED on March 21 in the money laundering case connected to the Delhi excise policy. The Supreme Court is seized of Kejriwal's petition challenging his arrest and remand by the ED.The Delhi High Court had earlier rejected his plea leading to the appeal before the apex court.During the hearing of the appeal on May 7, the top court had hinted at granting interim bail to Kejriwal in order to enable him to campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.However, it had also said that if interim bail is granted, Kejriwal would not be allowed to discharge any official duties as Chief Minister.The ED in its affidavit filed on Thursday has now opposed the Court's proposal to release Kejriwal temporarily. Any grant of interim bail for political campaigning would 'militate against and 'be discriminatory to' the rule of equality, it said."It would not be possible to hold that work of a small farmer or a small trader is any less important than political campaigning of a political leader who admittedly is not contesting ... A politician can claim no special status higher than that of an ordinary citizen and is as much liable to be arrested and detained for committing offences as any other citizen. If the right to campaign is treated as a basis for grant of interim bail it would breach the principles of Article 14".If Kejriwal is granted interim relief, all incarcerated politicians would claim similar treatment as a right, the ED argued.Any special concession in favour of the CM would, thus, be against the rule of law and create a precedent which would permit all unscrupulous politicians to commit crimes, avoid investigation under the garb of one election, the agency submitted..The ED pointed out that even the constitutional right to vote is curtailed when in custody..The ED’s money-laundering probe against Kejriwal stems from a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2022 on a complaint made by Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena.It has been alleged that a criminal conspiracy was hatched by AAP leaders, including Kejriwal, former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and others to create loopholes in the Delhi Excise Policy of 2021-22 to favour some liquor sellers.Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21 and is presently lodged in Tihar Jail.The ED had earlier submitted that Kejriwal cannot be treated differently from any other criminal merely because he is a politician.Kejriwal's counsel later countered that although Kejriwal, being a Chief Minister, is not immune from prosecution, his rights are not inferior to the rights of any other person.During an earlier hearing, the top court had questioned the ED on the timing of Kejriwal's ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.