India: What will happen if Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is detained by Enforcement Directorate?
File photo of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal
The summons issued to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to appear before India's economic intelligence watchdog Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday (Nov2) has raised many questions. While Kejriwal has skipped the summons for now, the question remains whether ED will end up arresting the leader of the decade-old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Two other top AAP leaders - Manish Sisodia, the former Delhi deputy chief minister and Member of Legislative Assembly from Patparganj constituency, and Sanjay Singh, an AAP member of Indian parliament's upper house Rajya Sabha - have already been arrested in connection with an alleged excise policy scam.
What will happen if Arvind Kejriwal is arrested by the ED?
A number of AAP leaders have claimed that if Kejriwal, who was elected for the third time in 2021, is arrested, then the Delhi government will be "run from jail".
Also watch |Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal excise policy scam investigation; ED conducts raids | WION Newspoint
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AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj told news agency ANI about the party's plan if Kejriwal is taken into custody.
"It would be decided by the senior leaders of the party. But if the whole party is in jail, then the government and the party would run from jail. And this is what the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) wants: everyone should be in jail… They want free education, free electricity, free water, free pilgrimage, hospitals, and mohalla clinics to stop but Arvind Kejriwal will not let this happen…", said Bharadwaj.
Is a chief minister immune from arrest?
India's Constitution shields the President of India and the governors of state from both civil and criminal prosecutions. Chief Ministers are not covered under this immunity during their tenure in office.
Serving prime ministers too are not immune from prosecution or arrest.
Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was prosecuted by Allahabad High Court in 1975 for electoral malpractices. While the court did not give her a jail-term, it declared the election verdict in the Rae Bareilly Lok Sabha constituency "null and void", and barred Gandhi from holding elected office for six years.
No chief minister or prime minister serving in office has ever been arrested before.
Former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav resigned as chief minister following the issuance of an arrest warrant in connection with the fodder scam scandal.
Before Lalu surrendered himself, his wife Rabri Devi was sworn in as the chief minister of Bihar and elected as the leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal's legislative party in his presence.
(With inputs from agencies)