Arvind Kejriwal

into signing on a white paper.”

Meanwhile, NCW has written to the Election Commission, saying that the Trinamool Congress is forcing women to withdraw complaints and that the party is instilling fear among Sandeshkhali women to suppress the victims the victims from coming forward with their complaints, potentially impacting the fairness of election process in the area.

in the money laundering case, said in a post in Hindi on X.

Kejriwal’s release from jail, however transient, is expected to give a boost to the AAP’s Lok Sabha campaign in Delhi with its foremost leader hitting the hustings.

While imposing a string of bail conditions on Kejriwal, the apex court directed him to furnish bail bonds of Rs 50,000 with one surety of the like amount to the satisfaction of the jail superintendent.

The court rejected the vehement argument of the ED counsel that enlarging Kejriwal on interim bail to campaign in the elections will be without a precedent.

The court did not concur with his contention that interim bail to the AAP national convenor for

campaigning would be like giving “premium of placing the politicians in a benefic position compared to ordinary citizens of this country”.

“While examining the question of grant of interim bail/ release, the courts always take into consideration the peculiarities associated with the person in question and the surrounding circumstances. In fact, to ignore the same would be iniquitous and wrong,” the bench said, adding that the Lok Sabha elections are the “most significant and an important event this year”.

The bench said no doubt, serious accusations have been made, but Kejriwal has not been convicted yet, does not have any criminal antecedents and is “not a threat to the society”.

It noted that more importantly, the legality and validity of his arrest itself was under challenge before the top court which is yet to finally pronounce its verdict on it.

“The factual situation cannot be compared with harvesting of crops or plea to look after business affairs. In this background, once the matter is subjudice and the questions relating to legality of arrest are under consideration, a more holistic and libertarian view is justified, in the background that the 18th Lok Sabha General Elections are being held,” the bench said.

Ruling that Kejriwal’s case is “not an exception”, the bench said power to grant interim bail is commonly exercised in a number of cases and interim bail is granted keeping in mind the facts of each case.

Kejriwal will not make any comment with regard to his role in the case and will not interact with any of the witnesses or have

access to any official files connected with the case, the bench directed.

The top court said the ongoing Lok Sabha elections have prompted the consideration of interim bail to Kejriwal as at this stage, it is not possible for the court to either conclude the arguments or finally pronounce the verdict on his plea challenging his arrest.

“As the appeal is pending before us, we do not think it would be proper for us to direct the appellant - Arvind Kejriwal to approach the trial court for interim bail/release. This may not be apt in view of the legal issues and contentions that are under examination and consideration before us,” it said.

“Between 650-700 million voters out of an electorate of about 970 million will cast their votes to elect the government of this country for the next five years. General Elections supply the vis viva (energy) to a democracy,” it said, underlining the importance of the Lok Sabha elections.

The bench said the ED has rightly pointed out that Kejriwal had failed to appear in spite of nine notices/summons, first of which was issued in October 2023.

“This is a negative factor, but there are several other facets which we are required to take into consideration,” it said, adding that Kejriwal is the chief minister and leader of one of the national parties.

The apex court said the grant of interim bail will not be treated as an expression of opinion on the merits of the case or the criminal appeal which is pending its consideration.

The apex court is hearing Kejriwal’s plea challenging the

Delhi High Court’s verdict last month upholding his arrest in the case. He had not filed an application for interim bail.

The bench said arguments on Kejriwal’s plea against his arrest will continue next week and it will try to pronounce the judgement on the petition before the summer vacations start on May 20.

The matter relates to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and execution of the Delhi government’s nowscrapped excise policy for 202122.

caution” and “refrain” from making such statements.

The poll panel said it found Kharge’s letter, placed in the public domain in the middle of the ongoing electoral process, “highly undesirable” and designed to create confusion, misdirection and impediment to the conduct of smooth, free and fair elections.

“Through innuendos and insinuations, the contents of the post tend to create disharmony in respect of the delicate space of election management, can plant doubts in the minds of voters and political parties and potentially create an anarchic situation when you said ‘could this be an attempt to doctor the final results?’ which this Commission hopes you do not have any intention of,” the EC said.

In a series of annexures, the poll authority also gave a factual matrix on changes in voter turnout trends during different phases of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and subsequent assembly elections.

It underlined that booth-wise voter turnout data is available with all contesting candidates and suggested that Congress should have analysed the data before levelling allegations.

In his letter to INDIA bloc leaders, Kharge had said that “apart from the delay, the voter turnout data released by the Commission does not mention crucial yet related figures, such as the votes polled in each Parliamentary Constituency and in the respective Assembly Constituencies.”

in its 2019 PIL seeking directions to the poll panel that “scanned legible copies of Form 17C Part-I (Account of Votes Recorded)” of all polling stations be uploaded immediately after the polls.

“Direct the Election Commission to provide tabulated polling station-wise data in absolute figures of the number of votes polled as recorded in Form 17C Part- I after each phase of polling in the on-going 2024 Lok Sabha elections and also a tabulation of constituency-wise figures of voter turnout in absolute numbers in the on-going 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” the NGO said.

It said that the plea was filed to ensure that the democratic process is not subverted by electoral irregularities.

“The voter turn-out data for the first two phases of the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections published by ECI on April 30 has been published after 11 days of the first phase of polling held on April 19 and 4 days after second phase of polling held on April 26.

“The data as published by the ECI in its press release dated April 30, 2024 shows a sharp increase (by about 5-6 per cent) as compared to the initial percentages announced by ECI as of 7 pm on the day of polling,” the plea said.

The petition said the “inordinate” delay in the release of final voter turnout data, coupled with the unusually high revision of over 5 per cent in the poll panel’s press note of April 30, 2024 has raised concerns and public suspicion regarding the correctness of the said data.

The non-release of absolute number of votes polled, coupled with the “unreasonable delay” in release of votes polled data, has led to apprehensions in the

mind of the electorate about the sharp increase between initial data and data released on April 30, it said.

“These apprehensions must be addressed and put to rest. That in order to uphold the voter’s confidence it is necessary that the

ECI be directed to disclose on its website scanned legible copies of Form 17C Part- I (Account of Votes Recorded) of all polling stations which contains the authenticated figures for votes polled, within 48 hours of the close of polling,” it said.