July 17, 2026

Kejriwal To Resign, Seek Early Elections In Delhi

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2024-09-15 16:10:36

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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

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Arvind Kejriwal has announced that he will resign as chief minister of Delhi in a couple of days. He said that he, along with deputy CM Manish Sisodia, will re-assume their office only when they are cleared by the people of Delhi as ‘honest’ politicians. This has given rise to the speculation that Kejriwal will press for early elections in Delhi. Elections are due in Delhi in, or before, February 2025. With this move, Kejriwal most probably wants elections to be held just after the festive season, three months ahead of schedule. He might have been forced to take this course of action due to the fact that the Supreme Court, while granting him bail, had clearly stated that he was not allowed to enter the office of the Delhi chief minister and sign any files in his official capacity. That, in effect, made him a chief minister just in name. The BJP has called his move a "PR stunt" and "confession of crime". The Congress also called the move a "gimmick".

While Kejriwal won a great victory by securing bail in Supreme Court and getting the one of the judges on the bench to say that his arrest was 'unjustified', he seems to have no option left after strict restrictions were placed by the court on his functioning as the chief minister. Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, in a concurring but separate judgment granting bail to Kejriwal, held that his arrest by the CBI was just to keep him in jail after he secured bail in another case that the ED had filed against him. The other judge on the bench, Justice Surya Kant, however held that the arrest was legal. But both judges ruled that Kejriwal could not enter the office of the Delhi chief minister and cannot sign any files or orders in his official capacity.

Kejriwal is not used to such restrictions. Hence, he wants to seek revalidation from the people of Delhi. But he must be aware that elections and electoral victories are one thing and court cases are another. It is not clear whether if he wins and returns as chief minister, the restrictions placed by the court will cease to operate. Hence, in that case, even if he wins, he will still not be able to function as chief minister until and unless he is finally cleared in the liquor excise case by the apex court.