“The government will run from jail,” said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over a year ago, when former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested in late March 2024 in connection with the Enforcement Directorate’s Delhi Excise Policy case.
As the Union government brings in Bills Wednesday which seek resignation of ministers in state and at the Centre, if held continuously for 30 days on “serious offences” and “corruption charges”, Kejriwal remains the only sitting Chief Minister to have been arrested. He was behind bars for nearly six months.
Before Kejriwal’s arrest, his Jharkhand counterpart and INDIA bloc ally Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate. However, just before his arrest, Soren had resigned as CM and handed over charge to someone else in the party.
In Kejriwal’s Cabinet, he was not the only one to be arrested or serve a long time in jail either. Between 2015 and 2024, three others in his government served more than 30 days behind bars, including Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain and Jitendra Tomar.
While Tomar resigned soon after his arrest, Jain held the position for nine months from jail. Sisodia resigned within a week of his arrest.
Responding to the Modi government’s move to bring in the Bills seeking removal of ministers including CMs and PMs if detained for 30 days, the AAP said Wednesday that Kejriwal had understood the BJP’s plan well in advance.
“Kejriwal ji knew all along that this was the Centre’s plan – to arrest Opposition CMs and ministers to disable governments. It has been proven over and over again that Arvind Kejriwal ji understands their dirty tricks. Now, the Centre will bring laws to execute its conspiracy to topple Opposition-led governments. First, they will file false cases against the CMs, then they will blackmail them. If they don’t give in, they will put them in jail and topple their government,” AAP Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj said.
At the time of Kejriwal’s arrest, the AAP had insisted that no rule mandates that a Minister or CM resign if jailed. However, during his time behind bars, Kejriwal was not permitted to sign any files or issue any orders.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena, said at a public event: “I can assure the people of Delhi that the government will not be run from jail.”
Eventually, Kejriwal resigned, but that was after he was released on bail by the Supreme Court, nearly six months after his arrest, with conditions that restricted his functioning as the CM.
Warning other non-BJP CMs at the time, Kejriwal said they should learn from his example: “If the Prime Minister files a fake case against you and imprisons you, do not resign. Run the government from jail. Do not resign because our Constitution, our country, and our democracy are more important than anything else.”
AAP sources say that even if Kejriwal’s incarceration hit governance months before Delhi went to polls, his refusal to resign made a political point.
In the February 2025 Delhi Assembly elections, the AAP was voted out of power, paving the way for a BJP government after 27 years.
The arrests
Arvind Kejriwal, AAP
Arrest: In March 2024 when he was sitting CM
Agency: Enforcement Directorate, followed by CBI
Charges: Prevention of Money Laundering Act and Prevention of Corruption Act in Delhi Excise Policy case
Maximum punishment: Imprisonment of up to 7 years
Current status: Undertrial, granted bail by Supreme Court in September 2024
Time spent in jail: 5 months (Got interim bail for 15 days to campaign for Lok Sabha polls); resigned as CM after getting bail
Manish Sisodia, AAP
Arrest: In February 2023, when he was Delhi Deputy CM
Agency: CBI followed by ED
Charges: Prevention of Money Laundering Act and Prevention of Corruption Act in Delhi Excise Policy case
Maximum punishment: Imprisonment of up to 7 years
Current status: Undertrial, granted bail by Supreme Court in August 2024
Time spent in jail: 17 months; resigned within a week of arrest
Satyendar Jain, AAP
Arrest: In May 2022, when he was Delhi Health and PWD Minister
Agency: ED
Charges: Prevention of Money Laundering Act
Maximum punishment: Imprisonment of up to 7 years
Current status: Undertrial, granted interim bail by Supreme Court in October 2024 on medical reasons
Time spent in jail: 18 months; remained a minister for nine of those months
Jitendra Tomar, AAP
Arrest: June 2015, when he was Delhi Law Minister
Agency: Delhi Police
Charges: Forgery and cheating in a “fake” law degree case
Maximum punishment: Imprisonment of up to 7 years
Current status: Was granted bail in July 2015; in 2020, a court set aside his 2015 election for false declaration in a poll affidavit
Time spent in jail: 1.5 months; resigned soon after arrest
Kejriwal remains the only sitting Chief Minister to have been arrested and was behind bars for nearly six months. (X/Arvind Kejriwal) 
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