Arvind Kejriwal arrest: The latest update
On Thursday, the Enforcement Directorate arrested the Delhi Chief Minister—fulfilling his repeated warnings that the government plans to throw him in jail before the elections. Kejriwal is accused of corruption and money laundering in connection with the Delhi government’s liquor policy.
The allegation: The ED claims Kejriwal was central in the formulation of Delhi’s excise policy that favours private players via wholesale licences and kickbacks. We’ve explained this in great length in this Big Story. Kejriwal had skipped nine summons from the ED prior to his arrest.
What happened now: A New Delhi court has sent Kejriwal to custody till March 28. He had withdrawn a plea from the Supreme Court challenging the arrest earlier on Friday. On Saturday, he said “no jail can contain my dedication to the city's welfare” via a letter read by Sunita Kejriwal. Meanwhile, AAP reps made suitably dramatic speeches:
Arvind Kejriwal is not a person. Arvind Kejriwal is an idea. If you arrest one Arvind Kejriwal, thousands more will rise across the country to save democracy and the Constitution of India.
His arrest essentially takes him out of the Lok Sabha campaign—as unnamed BJP leaders cheerily told the Indian Express:
This will also take away one of INDIA bloc’s star campaigners, as well as reinforce our message of it being a coalition of the corrupt.” And there is no bigger catch than Kejriwal on this front, given the AAP’s rise to power as an anti-corruption crusader.
They also said that their survey indicates voters will not rise up in protest against the arrest: “Plus, as a Delhi BJP leader pointed out, the Capital votes only in the sixth phase, or on May 25 — more than two months from now. ‘By then Kejriwal’s absence would have weakened the AAP and affected its ability to fight’.” (The Hindu)
Meanwhile, over at Congress: The party’s top leadership held a press conference to allege more foul play by the BJP. They say the government has frozen the party’s bank accounts—to cripple it in time for the election. FYI: The reason for freezing the accounts: a “delay in filing income-tax returns in 2018-19, an election year, and over a cash deposit of Rs 14.4 lakh” by Congress leaders. The party also faces a fine of Rs 2.1 billion (210 crore). Again the Supreme Court has been asked to intervene—after the Delhi High Court refused to do so. (The Telegraph)
Electoral bonds: The matchmaking goes on
On Thursday, the Election Commission finally released all information related to the electoral bonds, including the unique numbers. Every bond that is purchased has a unique number that links the purchaser to the party that encashes it. The EC released this information for bonds purchased between April 12, 2019, and January 24, 2024. Here are the key findings from the latest data dump:
- The BJP received the highest donation in this time period from Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructures, Ltd (MEIL). It donated 60% of its total donations—about Rs 5.8 billion (584 crore)—to the party.
- Its subsidiary Western UP Power Transmission Company, Ltd donated Rs 1.1 billion (110 crore) to the Indian National Congress (INC), followed by Rs 800 million (80 crore) to the BJP.
- Future Gaming and Hotel Services—which purchased the most bonds in this period—donated Rs 5.42 billion (542 crore) to Trinamool Congress and Rs 5.03 billion (503 crore) to DMK.
- The third biggest donor of electoral bonds, Qwik Supply Chain Pvt. Ltd, gave Rs 3.75 billion (375 crore) to the BJP and Rs 250 million (25 crore) to the Shiv Sena. FYI: Reliance Group owns 50% of this company.
The Hindu has more details. Scroll looks at how Priyanka Gandhi’s husband Robert Vadra and the DLF group got a ‘clean chit’ in a Gurgaon land fraud case after they had donated Rs 170 crore to the BJP between 2019 and 2022.
Also: The News Minute reports that Sarath Chandra Reddy who is a member of the ‘South Group’ paid at least Rs 55 crore to the BJP through electoral bonds. This group allegedly paid bribes worth Rs 100 crore to Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party to gain control over the liquor business in Delhi.
Good news for free speech
The Supreme Court stepped in to stay the Press Information Bureau’s spanking new Fact-Check Unit this week. The unit was set up to flag misinformation about the government on social media platforms. The Court noted that the petition—filed by stand-up comic Kunal Kamra, the Editors Guild of India and others—challenging the move raised “serious constitutional questions.”
Their petition claimed the new FCU imposes “unreasonable restrictions to freedom of speech and expression”:
In his petition, Kamra said the law would also restrict his “fundamental right to practice trade or profession” since he relies on social media platforms to share his content. He said it could also lead to his content being “arbitrarily blocked” or taken down, or his accounts being suspended or deactivated.
According to the PIB website, “Fact Check only evaluates/verifies the authenticity of facts related to the policies, schemes, guidelines, initiatives, etc of the Government of India”. This could lead to selective enforcement. States like Karnataka have already shortlisted five private firms for its own Fact-Checking Unit.
Indian Express looks at how the PIB’s fact-checking unit can be weaponized.
Pawar vs Pawar in Maharashtra
The context: NCP leader Ajit Pawar broke rank to join the Eknath Shinde-led government in Maharashtra last year. He was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister along with eight other MLAs who took oath as ministers. Ajit’s supporters claimed they are the “true” NCP and had the support of 36 MLAs. The Election Commission granted Ajit Pawar’s faction the right to use the party name and the symbol of the clock. This was challenged by Sharad Pawar in the Supreme Court. Our Big Story has everything you need to know about this maha melodrama.
What happened now: On Tuesday, the SC allowed the Sharad Pawar faction to contest Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assembly polls under the ‘trumpet’ party symbol for now and the name ‘Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar’ till the matter had been conclusively decided by the court. (The Hindu)
Meanwhile, in Baramati: The Pawars had another break-up episode. Earlier this week, Indian Express reported Ajit Pawar’s elder brother, Sriniwas Pawar, had publicly declared that his family will support Supriya Sule in Baramati, pitting Ajit (and his wife Sunetra) against the rest of the family. Indian Express details Ajit Pawar’s “isolation”.
In related news: The BJP has extended its support to the Ajit-led NCP for the Lok Sabha elections in Lakshadweep. (The Print)
Troubled waters for the BJP in Karnataka
On March 13, BJP released the second list of 72 Lok Sabha candidates, including three former chief ministers and four Union Ministers.
In Karnataka: Union Minister Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad), Tejaswi Surya (Bangalore South), and ex-CM Bommai (Haveri) have been put on the roster. But many others were left disgruntled—which could lead to a season of defections.
Former Deputy CM KS Eshwarappa’s son was snubbed from the Haveri seat. Eshwarappa is now set to run as an independent against the BJP’s BY Vijayendra, BS Yediyurappa's elder son. The irony: he’s protesting against 'dynastic politics'... for his son:
"People and the workers are in favour of the BJP but the system here is bad. What is our Narendra Modi ji saying? The Congress party is in the hands of one family. Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi... the central Congress is being controlled by one family. Same situation is in Karnataka. Karnataka's BJP is in control of one family. We have to protest this”.
The others sidelined: CT Ravi, Pratap Simha, Basanagouda Patil Yatnal and Sadananda Gowda—who would be particularly unhappy about the BJP’s relatively safe Bangalore North seat being given to Shobha Karandlaje. (Deccan Herald)
In the hot seat: Shobha Karandlaje from the BJP. She was pulled up by the Election Commission for violating the code of conduct for saying that people from Tamil Nadu were responsible for the recent blast at a Bengaluru cafe.
A list of good reads
One: Carnegie India’s Suyash Rai published an excellent collection of essays, which explore how democratic processes and electoral politics in India shape—and are shaped by—societal values, historical contexts, and political ambitions.
Two: Shoaib Daniyal in Scroll looks at the complicated relationship between voter preferences and corruption—and how electoral bonds may not really harm the BJP.
Three: Yogendra Yadav in The Print argues that the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra was actually successful and achieved a subtle shift in the politics of Rahul Gandhi.
