The Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) which made a dramatic entry in the governance of national Capital by squeezing itself in the political space of bigger national parties — the Congress and BJP — almost 10 years ago may see a meltdown post this Lok Sabha polls, as it worst fears have come true after the arrest of its founder, party convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in money Laundering Case related to the excise policy scam case and a pending Delhi Jal Board (DJB) multi-crore alleged fraud case.
The AAP is now in a Catch-22 situation about “what and who next”, as heir apparent of the party and cofounders — Manish Sisodia, Satyender Jain, Sanjay Singh — all are in jail and there is a huge gap between Kejriwal and the party at the ground level.
Kejriwal’s phoenix rise was at the cost of denting the 15 years Congress regime led by Sheila Dikshit. The Congress faced three defeats at the hands of Kejriwal in the national Capital. The AAP leader also tarnished the image of top BJP leaders like late Arun Jaitley and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari in successive protests and Press conferences.
Currently, the real challenge for the AAP is in identifying a competent leader who can successfully navigate both the party’s affairs and the governance of Delhi in the absence of Kejriwal.
More significantly, the urgency of this task is further heightened as the AAP prepares to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls in Punjab, Delhi, Gujarat, Assam, and Haryana, where Kejriwal was expected to play a key role as the party’s key campaigner.
The party is eyeing at expanding its footprint across the country and has tied up with the Congress to contest the Lok Sabha polls against the BJP in Delhi, Haryana and Gujarat. Kejriwal is the fulcrum of the party’s Lok Sabha campaign and its star campaigner.
The party is already feeling the pinch of the absence of its senior leaders like Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain and Sanjay Singh.
Now the arrest of Kejriwal has landed the ruling party of Delhi in the doldrums. On earlier occasions, whenever this question rose, the party maintained a tough stance saying it will fight it out, but there is no denying the fact that AAP’s think tank won’t find it easy to wriggle out of this problem. The party’s campaign in Delhi, where it is contesting on four seats and in Gujarat, where it has fielded candidates on two seats, is centred around Kejriwal.
In Delhi, the party’s campaign is titled, ‘Sansad Mein Bhi Kejriwal, Toh Dilli Hogi Aur Khush Haal’ while in Gujarat, it is being run as ‘Gujarat Mein Bhi Kejriwal’. In Punjab, while the campaign is centred around State Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Kejriwal had been frequently travelling to the State, where the AAP is contesting all the 13 seats without an alliance with Congress.
The AAP had alleged that there was a conspiracy to arrest Kejriwal since his comments were making the BJP uncomfortable. Earlier this week, Bharadwaj said, “The face will be Kejriwal. He is the only face that people trust and love. The strategy will be formed once we reach that stage.”
The role and responsibilities of top AAP leaders, including its national organisation secretary Sandeep Pathak, Mann and Delhi Ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj, are likely to grow within the party. Mann said he will attend the next meeting of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) Bloc.”I have been to these meetings along with Kejriwal in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Patna,” the Punjab Chief Minister said while talking to reporters.
Before Kejriwal’s arrest, the party, somewhere, at the back of its mind, was also hoping that he is not arrested considering his mass appeal and popularity, especially among the people of Delhi.
The AAP will now be in an awkward situation even in States like Delhi and Punjab which has its 2/3rd majority Governments.
Legal experts said there is no legal bar on Kejriwal continuing as Chief Minister from jail. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan said there is no bar in law on a person continuing as Chief Minister once arrested, senior advocate Vikas Singh said. Though legally there is no bar, administratively it will be next to impossible.
Given Delhi’s status as a State with a Union Territory status, the Lieutenant Governor’s role becomes more important. According to experts, the Raj Niwas has a very important role to play and he can, in fact, recommend the imposition of President’s rule.
The AAP leadership faces a daunting task in identifying a leader whose stature even remotely matches that of Kejriwal, who has served as the party’s convener since its inception in 2011 and held the post of Delhi Chief Minister for three consecutive terms spanning nearly a decade. After Modi, Kejriwal is the only leader having a quality to connect with the common man. Presently, AAP does not have any leader to connect with the people.
Apart from Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal, a former IRS officer, the names of Ministers Atishi (who holds the maximum number of portfolios in the Delhi Government), Saurabh Bharadwaj and Swati Maliwal too are taking rounds for the post of Delhi Chief Minister.
Top leaders of the AAP, including Atishi, Saurabh, Ram Niwas Goel categorically stated that AAP convener will continue to hold the post of the Chief Minister of Delhi and will work from the jail if required.
The Representation of People Act (RP Act), 1951, deals with elections, qualification and disqualification of lawmakers. According to the Act, an MP or an MLA stands disqualified, if s/he is convicted for an offence. However, since Kejriwal has not been convicted yet, there is no bar on him continuing as Chief Minister.
Article 239 AA defines the role of the elected Government, the LG and Parliament when it comes to Delhi. The entire power of the elected Government and the CM of Delhi has its origin in this provision of the Constitution.
However, the LG has the powers to recommend the suspension of operation of this provision. Article 239 AB gives powers to an LG to recommend to the President of India to suspend the operation of Article 239 AA.
In February 2024, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader and then Chief Minister Hemant Soren was arrested by the ED in a money-laundering case. Soren resigned as CM after his arrest, and Seraikela MLA Champai Soren replaced him.
Similarly, in 2001, when Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa was arrested in a disproportionate assets case, she picked O Paneerselvam to be the CM till she obtained a bail. This was repeated in 2014, when she was convicted and arrested in the same case. Paneerselvam resigned in both 2001 and 2014, after she obtained a bail and a stay of her conviction, respectively.
