- Kejriwal demands that “elections be held in November with Maharashtra”
- He says he will return to office if people vote for him in the Delhi elections.
- The AAP leader is expected to campaign for Chief Ministership in the elections after his release.
Indian opposition leader Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday he will resign as chief minister of the Delhi regional government, a day after being released from prison on bail in a corruption case.
India's Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to Kejriwal and he walked out of jail on Saturday nearly six months after he was arrested in connection with alleged irregularities in the capital's liquor policy.
Kejriwal is a fierce critic of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a former anti-corruption crusader whose decade-old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) quickly rose to mainstream politics, though its influence is relatively small compared to older opposition parties.
AAP had hoped Kejriwal's release from prison would allow him to campaign for chief minister in regional elections next month in the northern state of Haryana, and in Delhi early next year.
Kejriwal, who announced his resignation as chief minister at a meeting with AAP workers, said he would only return to the post if people certified his honesty by voting for him in the upcoming Delhi elections. He asked the election commission to advance the Delhi elections to November, from February 2025.
“I demand that elections be held in November along with Maharashtra elections. I demand that elections be held immediately,” Kejriwal said.
He was first arrested in March by India's financial crime enforcement agency, weeks before the country's national elections, in connection with Delhi's liquor policy.
Although he was granted bail in that case in July, he remained in detention following his arrest the previous month by federal police in another corruption case related to the same policy.
Kejriwal, 55, and AAP deny the allegations and say the cases are “politically motivated”.
