Right to campaign is not a fundamental right: ED tells SC on Arvind Kejriwal’s bail plea
The Enforcement Directorate’s fresh affidavit is a ‘blatant disregard of legal procedures’, the Aam Aadmi Party said.
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The right to campaign in an election is neither a fundamental right nor a constitutional right, the Enforcement Directorate told the Supreme Court on Thursday in a fresh affidavit opposing the grant of interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the liquor policy case, Live Law reported.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta has been hearing Kejriwal’s petition seeking interim bail in the case. The court will continue the hearing on Friday.
The Aam Aadmi Party chief was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21 for his alleged role in the liquor policy case. He is in Delhi’s Tihar jail.
On Tuesday, the bench had deferred its order on granting interim bail to Kejriwal. However, the bench had said that it could consider granting him bail on account of the elections, but on the condition that he would not carry out official duties as the chief minister.
On Thursday, the central law enforcement agency said in a fresh affidavit that the right to campaign for the polls is “not even a legal right”. A politician is not entitled to differential treatment and cannot claim a higher status than an ordinary citizen, it told the bench.
The Enforcement Directorate also submitted that no politician had been granted interim bail for an...
