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Informist, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026

NEW DELHI – After his acquittal in the Delhi liquor policy case of 2022 by a trial court Friday, former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal challenged the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership to hold fresh elections in Delhi.

"I challenge Narendra Modi ji to hold fresh elections in Delhi. If the BJP gets more than 10 seats, I will quit politics," Kejriwal said. "The BJP knew that they could not defeat us in Delhi, that is why they attacked my integrity through this false case."

A Central Bureau of Investigation court discharged Kejriwal, his former deputy Manish Sisodia, and 21 others in the alleged liquor policy scam case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in 2022. As per media reports, the court also reprimanded the CBI for basing the case entirely on conjecture and surmise, "devoid of any admissible evidence". 

"Liquor scam! The BJP bandied around this word a lot in the past four years. Now, the court has found the charges to be baseless and the case unsustainable," the Aam Aadmi Party Convenor said at a press conference.

In 2021, then Kejriwal government in Delhi had introduced a new excise policy aimed at reforming liquor sales. In 2022, allegations of the AAP government favouring a liquor cartel called the "South Group" in lieu of huge amount of money emerged, and the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate started probing the case.

Kejriwal accused Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of "hatching this conspiracy". "Both of them must apologise now," he said. The AAP leader alleged that the brunt of Modi and Shah's "lust for power" was being borne by 30 million people of Delhi who are being deprived of clean air, clean water, healthcare facilities, and city infrastructure by the BJP government in Delhi.

He questioned the prime minister's "silence" on US President Donald Trump who is "insulting Modi day in and day out". "I want to tell Modi ji, you have done everything you could to supress us. Now there is only one way to get rid of Kejriwal – get me killed," the AAP leader said.

While the AAP leaders have been discharged in the CBI case, the Enforcement Directorate is separately pursuing the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. "The Enforcement Directorate case will also end now. It is just a formality. We will move an application next week to close that case," Kejriwal said.  End

Reported by Asim Khan

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

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