Sanjay Singh bail

In the lead-up to the Lok Sabha elections, AAP MP Sanjay Singh’s bail decision has helped both his party and the opposition group in India. A Supreme Court Bench granted him a reprieve in the money laundering case involving the Delhi excise policy, noting that no money had been taken from his hands and that there was no evidence of it.

After stating that it had no issues with the MP being released on bond, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which had detained him in October of last year, approved the bail. But the Bench’s claim that its ruling would not be followed as precedent might depress the expectations of other AAP leaders who are in prison, including Manish Sisodia and Arvind Kejriwal.

The outcome in Sanjay’s case, however, is being seen by the AAP and other opposition parties as a moral triumph and confirmation of their declared stance that the governing BJP is abusing Central inquiry agencies to settle political scores. It would be difficult for the ED, whose acts are being scrutinized by the courts, to establish Sanjay and other AAP leaders’ guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

A prominent English daily’s investigation has provided the opposition with additional material on which to criticize the administration. It has discovered that 25 well-known lawmakers who were under investigation by federal authorities for possible corruption had defected to the side of the BJP since the BJP-led NDA took office in 2014. Ten of them are from the Congress, while the other ones are from local parties. They have found relief in 23 of these instances as a consequence of their betrayal of allegiance. These cases have generally been closed or placed on hold by the Income Tax Department, the ED, and the CBI. The Opposition’s claims of pressure and a quid pro quo are being supported by the wave of defections that occurred on election eve.