Prominent opposition leader and Delhi Chief Minister
Arvind Kejriwal has resigned from his post, days after getting bail in a
corruption case.
Kejriwal spent five months in jail in connection with
a now-scrapped alcohol sales policy. He has denied the allegations against him.
He has said that he will take up the post only if
people re-elect his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the upcoming assembly elections.
Kejriwal's colleague and senior Delhi minister Atishi
will replace him as the leader of the government, the party announced on
Tuesday.
AAP made its poll debut in 2013 Delhi assembly
elections and has governed the capital city since, focussing on welfare
measures such as affordable electricity and water for residents.
In 2020, the party won 62 seats in the 70-seat
assembly – in almost a repeat of its performance in the previous election when
it won 67 seats.
Kejriwal had announced his intention to resign over
the weekend, saying he would sit on the chief minister's chair only if the
people of Delhi gave him a "certificate of honesty".
"I got justice from the legal court, now I will
get justice from the people's court," he told reporters.
Kejriwal has called for advancing the Delhi elections,
which are scheduled for February next year, to November, aligning them with the
upcoming polls in Maharashtra state.
Experts, however, say that is unlikely to happen.
Indian laws stipulate that elections cannot be
scheduled less than six months before an assembly term's end unless the
assembly is dissolved early. Additionally, the Election Commission considers
factors like weather, festivals, and electoral roll revisions before announcing
elections.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP), which is the AAP's main opposition in Delhi, has called Kejriwal's
resignation a "publicity stunt" to galvanise public sympathy.
An anti-corruption crusader, Kejriwal was the third
AAP leader to be arrested over alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped
alcohol sales policy.
Manish Sisodia, a former deputy chief minister, and
AAP leader Sanjay Singh were also arrested in the case. Sisodia was granted
bail in August after spending 17 months in jail and Singh was released on bail
in April.
The policy was introduced by AAP in 2021, saying it
would curb black market sales, increase revenues and ensure even distribution
of liquor licences.
It was withdrawn a few months later after Delhi’s
Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena accused AAP of exploiting rules to
benefit private liquor barons.
The AAP denies the charges and has accused the BJP of
using investigating agencies to unjustly target opposition leaders, a charge it
denies.