After Relief By Court, Kejriwal Wins Trust Vote In Delhi Assembly

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won the trust vote in the Assembly on Saturday, citing which the CM got time by a city court to appearr before it on a complaint filed by the ED against him for skipping summons.

The Rouse Avenue court in Delhi allowed Arvind Kejriwal to appear before it on March 16 after he cited the trust vote on Saturday. Kejriwal reportedly told the court that the Delhi Assembly session, where he has moved a trust vote, came up "suddenly", adding that he would appear later in March once the session concludes.

Delhi Assembly passed Confidence Motion through voice vote, with 54 of 62 AAP MLAs present during voting. Delhi CM and AAP convenor Kejriwal said no AAP MLAs defected, adding that two MLAs were in jail, some were unwell and some out of station.

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Delhi CM Kejriwal on Friday moved a Motion of Confidence in the Assembly, which will be discussed in the Assembly on Saturday in presence of ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs and Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri since seven of the eight BJP legislators were suspended for the remainder of the session for allegedly interfering during the Lt Governor's address on Thursday.

This is the second time that the Kejriwal government sought a trust vote in the 70-member Assembly. In the current Assembly, the AAP has 62 MLAs while the BJP has eight.

During the Confidence motion on Saturday, the chief minister said that even if the BJP wins this year's Lok Sabha polls, the AAP will "liberate" the country from the saffron party in the 2029 elections.

Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal said his government has a majority in the House, but it needed to bring the Motion of Confidence because the BJP was trying to poach party MLAs and topple his government.

Tabling the Confidence Motion on Friday, Kejriwal had alleged that two MLAs had come to him saying they were contacted by BJP members offering them Rs 25 crore each. "They were told that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will be arrested and the government will be toppled...They were also told that the BJP is in touch with 21 MLAs. They have made multiple attempts to approach our MLAs under 'Operation Lotus'. Even this time, our MLAs refused to budge," Kejriwal said.

Kejriwal said the AAP checked with all its MLAs after these claims and it was found that seven of its legislators were approached, but none of them accepted the offer.

Meanwhile, the Rouse Avenue court in Delhi allowed Arvind Kejriwal to appear before it on March 16 after he cited the trust vote on Saturday. Kejriwal reportedly told the court that the Delhi Assembly session, where he has moved a trust vote, came up "suddenly", adding that he would appear later in March once the session concludes.

The Delhi court had asked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to appear before it on February 17 on a complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for skipping summonses in the excise policy-linked case and noted that prima facie the AAP chief was "legally bound" to comply.

The ED had moved the court after Kejriwal skipped five summons by the probe agency for questioning in a Delhi liquor policy-linked money laundering case.

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Earlier this week, the ED issued its sixth summons to Kejriwal for his questioning. He has been asked to depose before the federal agency on February 19.