Right to campaign in polls neither fundamental nor constitutional: ED tells SC

New Delhi: Opposing the grant of interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Enforcement Directorate told the Supreme Court on Thursday that the right to campaign in polls is neither a fundamental nor a constitutional right, Scroll reported citing Live Law.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta will continue hear Kejriwal’s petition seeking interim bail on Friday.

Kejriwal, who is doing time in Tihar jail, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21 for his alleged involvement in the controversial liquor policy case.

While deferring its order granting interim bail to Kejriwal, the court said it would consider giving him bail in the context of elections, which the ED countered.

The court however stipulated condition that he could not carry out official duties as the chief minister.

The ED in a fresh affidavit pointed out on Thursday that the right to campaign for the polls is “not even a legal right”.

The central agency argued that a politician is not entitled to differential treatment and cannot claim higher status than an ordinary citizen, adding that no politician has been given interim bail for election campaign.

The central agency further argued that even a candidate cannot be given interim bail to undertake their own campaigning.

Furthering stressing, the agency told that court that granting interim bail to Kejriwal on the grounds of an election campaign ‘will create a precedent which would permit all unscrupulous politicians to commit crimes, avoid investigation under the garb of election.’

“There is absolutely no principle which justifies giving a differential treatment to a politician for campaigning over a farmer or a businessman who wishes to pursue his vocation,” The Hindu quoted the affidavit as stating.

The Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday called ED’s affidavit a “blatant disregard of legal procedures”.

The party also reportedly said it had filed a complaint in the registry of the Supreme Court against the affidavit.

The Aam Aadmi Party in its complaint accused the ED of being ‘dictatorial in its approach’ and ‘opaque’, adding that it is also ‘guilty of suggestio falsi [suggesting falsehood] and suppressio veri [suppressing truth]’, according to the report.

The party said Kejriwal’s ‘illegal’ arrest prior to Lok Sabha polls caused what it claimed “grave prejudice to the AAP’, adding that it will ‘provide the BJP at the Centre an unjust upper hand.

'A level playing field, which is a prerequisite for ‘free and fair elections’, has clearly been compromised with the illegal arrest of Mr Kejriwal,' the Aam Aadmi Party reportedly said.