Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal failed to get any relief from the top court, with a two-judge bench rising without pronouncing an order granting him interim bail to enable him to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, which reserved its verdict on the question of interim bail, said allowing Kejriwal to attend his office may have a "cascading effect".

"Suppose we grant you interim bail on account of elections. Then if you say you will attend office, it may have a cascading effect. If we give you interim bail, we don't want you to perform official duties as somewhere it will lead to conflict of interest. We don't want your interference at all in the working of the government," the bench told senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal.

Singhvi said he is making a statement that Kejriwal will not deal with files related to excise policy. However, he later submitted that Kejriwal won't sign any official files if released on interim bail provided the Delhi lieutenant governor does not reject decisions just because the files were not signed by him.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Enforcement Directorate, staunchly opposed showing any leniency to Kejriwal on account of the Lok Sabha polls and said granting interim bail to the AAP national convenor would amount to creating a separate class for politicians.

The bench said, "We are not going by whether it is a case of a politician or not a politician. Every particular individual involved has some special or exceptional case or circumstances. We are only considering whether this case requires an exception or if the person involved is in that exceptional circumstance, given the fact that elections are round the corner, that's all." "Please do not take it that we are saying that there's a different law followed for politicians," the bench said.

To read about his hearing  https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ndtv.com/india-news/arvind-kejriwal-bail-hearing-live-updates-supreme-court-says-arvind-kejriwal-not-habitual-offender-5607580/amp/1