'Slap On Institution's Face': ED Objects Kejriwal's Campaign Speech In Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday raised objection before the Supreme Court to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's campaign speech that if people vote for his party in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, he wouldn't have to go to jail.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Dutta said it will not go into this and its order is clear when he has to surrender on June 2.
During the hearing of Kejriwal's plea against his arrest and subsequent remand in the Delhi excise policy case, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for ED, told the bench that after coming out of the jail on interim bail, Kejriwal violated conditions of bail and has said that if people will vote for his party, he wouldn't have to go to jail.

"How can Arvind Kejriwal say this? What is he trying to imply? It is a slap on the face of the institution," the Solicitor General said.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Kejriwal, said that he can also file an affidavit on what a top Government Minister has said about the Supreme Court's order on granting interim bail to him.

The bench said it will not go into this and while granting bail, it "did not make an exception for anybody".

"We have not said anything in the order that he cannot speak about the case," the bench said.

Kejriwal has said that if the opposition INDIA bloc wins the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, he would be back from Tihar Jail on June 5, a day after the results are announced.

During a roadshow in Haryana's Kurukshetra on Sunday, CM Kejriwal appealed the electorate to consider the consequences of their vote, stating, "I have come for 20 days, saying that I have to go to jail again (on 2nd June). Whether I go to jail again or not is in your hands. If you press the lotus button on May 25th, I will have to go to jail, and if you press the broom button, I won't have to go to jail."

Kejriwal's comments in an election rally that a vote for the "broom" (Aam Aadmi Party symbol) would ensure that he does not return to jail have come under fire from Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Shah called the comment a "clear contempt of the Supreme Court".

On May 10, the apex court had granted Kejriwal interim bail till June 1, the last day of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections, and directed him to surrender and go back to jail on June 2. The Delhi chief minister was arrested on March 21. The court had, however, barred Kejriwal from visiting his office or the Delhi secretariat, and signing official files unless absolutely necessary for obtaining the lieutenant governor's approval.