Arvind Kejriwal

Arvind Kejriwal (Hindi pronunciation: [əɾʋin̪d̪ ked͡ʒɾiːʋaːl]; born 16 August 1968) is an Indian politician, activist and former bureaucrat, who is serving as the 7th and current Chief Minister of Delhi since 2015, after his first term in the post from 2013 to 2014. He is also the national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party since 2012. He has represented the New Delhi constituency in the Delhi Legislative Assembly since 2015 and from 2013 to 2014.

In 2006, Kejriwal was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for his involvement in the Parivartan movement using right to information legislation in a campaign against government corruption. The same year, after resigning from Government service, he founded the Public Cause Research Foundation to campaign for transparent governance. Before entering politics, Kejriwal had worked in the Indian Revenue Service. Prior to that, he was a mechanical engineer from IIT Kharagpur.

In 2012, he launched the Aam Aadmi Party. In 2013, he assumed office as the Chief Minister of Delhi and resigned 49 days later over his inability to mobilise support for his proposed anti-corruption legislation. In the 2015 Delhi Legislative assembly elections, AAP registered an unprecedented majority. In subsequent 2020 elections, AAP re-emerged victorious and retained the power in Delhi, following which, Kejriwal was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Delhi for the third time in a row. Outside Delhi, his party registered another major victory in 2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly election.

He was arrested in March 2024 by the Enforcement Directorate on allegations of a Delhi liquor scam against Aam Aadmi Party's Delhi Government. He became the first ever incumbent chief minister within India to be arrested. The ED also accused him of spying on their officials. He had skipped nine summons by the Enforcement Directorate as well, before that. The Delhi High Court dismissed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's petition against his arrest. His ministers, Satyendra Jain and Manish Sisodia have also been in jail for around two years without bail or conviction. The opposition alliance called the arrest weeks before the 2024 Indian general election, a case of fabrication and "match-fixing" by the BJP. Amnesty International said that financial and terrorism laws have been weaponised to go after political opponents while BJP has denied that it has any political agenda to go after Kejriwal.