India’s opposition jubilant as Modi critic Kejriwal gets bail to campaign in elections

NEW DELHI, - India’s top court gave temporary bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a graft case yesterday, allowing him to campaign in the ongoing general elections, boosting the opposition alliance of which he is a prominent figure.

The Supreme Court said Kejriwal - a fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi - would be out on bail until June 1, the last day of the nationwide sevenphase vote, and would have to return to pre-trial detention on June 2.

India began voting on April 19 and elections for more than half of the 543 seats in parliament have now been completed following the third phase of the vote on May 7.

The two areas governed by Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) - the National Capital Territory that includes New Delhi, and the northern state of Punjab - go to the polls on May 25 and June 1 respectively.

Votes will be counted on June 4 and results are expected to be announced the same day.

“It feels good to be back among you,” Kejriwal, dressed in a dark collarless T-shirt, told supporters through the sun-roof of a vehicle soon after being released from Delhi’s Tihar jail.

Thousands of AAP supporters had gathered waving the party’s yellow and blue flags, setting off firecrackers, shouting slogans and distributing sweets.

“I have only one request for you, we have to come together to save the country from dictatorship,” Kejriwal said. “I am fighting with everything I have against this dictatorship. But 1.4 billion people will have to fight dictatorship,” he said, referring to India’s huge population.

The court had said last week that it may consider granting Kejriwal temporary bail “because of the elections” while it heard an appeal against his arrest, as that hearing could take a while to conclude.

Opposition parties have accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of using investigative agencies to hurt its rivals, which the government denies.