Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday refused to appear before the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in connection with a case related to the alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy. Kejriwal wrote a letter to ED to inform the agency and cited prior electoral and governance commitments for his decision to skip the questioning.

In his two-page letter dated November 2, 2023, Kejriwal questioned the legal validity of the ED notice and termed it politically motivated, claiming it was issued to “malign his image and reputation” hours after BJP leaders claimed he will be summoned and arrested soon.

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“The said summons appear to be motivated and issued for extraneous considerations. Simultaneous to the summons, in the afternoon of 30.10.2023, BJP leaders started making statements that soon I would be summoned and arrested. By the evening of that day, I received your summons. It is thus apparent that the said summons was leaked to select BJP leaders to malign my image and reputation and has been issued with a mala fide intention,” the Delhi CM wrote.

Kejriwal further said that being the National Convener and a start campaigner of AAP, he is required to travel for campaigning in view of the Assembly elections in five states and urged the central probe agency to recall the summon, terming it “vague, motivated and unsustainable in law”.

“Being the National Convenor and a star campaigner of the AAP, I am required to travel for campaigning and to provide political guidance to my field workers of AAP. As the CM of Delhi, I have governance and official commitments for which my presence is required, particularly in view of Diwali coming up…Please recall the said summons, which is to say the least is vague and motivated and unsustainable in law,” he said.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal responds to ED, “…Being the National Convener and a star campaigner of the AAP, I am required to travel for campaigning and to provide political guidance to my field workers of AAP. As the CM of Delhi, I have governance and official commitments for… pic.twitter.com/piPS5D5kMB

— ANI (@ANI) November 2, 2023

The AAP chief also said that the summons didn’t specify whether he was being summoned as a suspect or witness and in what capicity – an an individual or in his official capacity as Delhi Chief Minsiter or AAP National Convener.

“The said summons does not specify whether I am being summoned as an individual or in my official capacity as Chief Minister of Delhi or as National Convenor of AAP and appears to be in the nature of a fishing and roving inquiry,” his letter to ED said.