Top Modi opponent to return to jail after India vote ends
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A top opponent of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Arvind Kejriwal, says he will return to jail on Sunday.
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Aam Aadmi Party leader and Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal shows his index finger marked at a polling booth after casting his vote in the sixth round of polling in India's national election in New Delhi, India, on May 25, 2024. (AP)
A top opponent of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced he would return to jail on Sunday after the end of the bail term issued to allow him to campaign in the national elections.
In March, Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi and a prominent leader in an opposition alliance, was detained amid a corruption probe. He is one of several bloc leaders under criminal investigation, calling his arrest just before the start of general elections a "political conspiracy" orchestrated by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
India's top court granted him bail last month, briefly boosting the opposition's campaign to oust Modi. However, the court ordered him to return to custody once voting in the six-week election concluded.
He said he would hand himself into Delhi's Tihar prison Sunday afternoon. "I came out for election campaign for 21 days... today I will surrender by going to Tihar," he wrote on social media.
On that note, Kejriwal's government faced corruption accusations over a 2021 policy to liberalize liquor sales and relinquish a lucrative government stake in the sector. Although the policy was withdrawn the following year, the ensuing probe into alleged corrupt license allocations has led to two top Kejriwal allies being jailed.
India votes in final elections phase
On Saturday, India ended the final phase of a protracted general election. Both Modi and his challengers expressed confidence in winning the polls, which largely focused on issues of inequality and religion.
The seven-phase vote, in which nearly a billion people were eligible to cast their ballots, began on April 19 and will end with polling in the last 57 seats, including in Modi's constituency in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi.
Over 100 million registered voters across eight states and federal territories, including Punjab in the north and Bihar, West Bengal, and Odisha in the east, participated in Saturday's elections.
Calling upon the voters to turn out in large numbers and vote, Modi said as polls opened, "Together, let's make our democracy more vibrant and participative."
