India’s Supreme Court today granted interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal till June 1 for campaigning in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said Kejriwal, arrested in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam, will have to surrender and go back to jail on June 2.

Kejriwal, who is not a candidate in the elections, had sought a release from jail to campaign for the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.

The bench rejected the plea of senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, that the interim bail be granted till June 5 -- a day after the votes are counted on June 4.

The apex court is hearing Kejriwal's plea challenging the Delhi High Court’s last month verdict upholding his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in the case.

The matter relates to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and execution of the Delhi government's now-scrapped excise policy for 2021-22. 

Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, said that the central probe agency had registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) in August 2022, but Mr Kejriwal was arrested in March.

The bench pointed out that the FIR against Kejriwal was registered in August 2022 and he was arrested on March 21 this year. "For about one and half years he was there... The arrest could have been made afterward or before.”