oppn parties Kejriwal To Resign, Seek Early Elections In Delhi

News Snippets

  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
oppn parties
Kejriwal To Resign, Seek Early Elections In Delhi

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

About the Author

Sunil Garodia 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

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.