Kejriwal arrest: 95% of ED cases since BJP came to power in 2014 against Opposition leaders

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday in the Delhi liquor policy case fits into a larger pattern of Opposition parties coming under the organisation’s net under the BJP-led NDA rule since 2014.

A report carried by The Indian Express in September 2022 — based on a study of court records, agency statements and reports of politicians booked, arrested, raided or questioned by the ED — pointed to how, since 2014, when the Narendra Modi-led BJP first came to power, there had been a four-fold jump in ED cases against politicians in comparison to the UPA regime earlier.

The investigation showed that 121 prominent politicians had come under ED probe between 2014 and 2022, of whom 115 were Opposition leaders who had been booked, raided, questioned or arrested — 95% of the cases.

This was in sharp contrast to the agency’s casebook under the UPA regime (2004 to 2014) – when 26 political leaders in all were probed by the agency. Of these, 14 were Opposition leader, or more than half (54%).

Since The Indian Express carried the report in September 2022, other Opposition leaders have come under the ED radar. This includes then Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia (March 2023), also arrested in the Delhi liquor policy case in which Kejriwal was held Thursday; JMM leader Hemant Soren (January 2024), who quit as Jharkhand Chief Minister just before his arrest; Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha (earlier this month), the daughter of former Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao who is also facing charges in the Delhi liquor policy case.

The significant increase in ED cases is mainly attributed to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), a law that has been strengthened since it came