Elected Government Must Have Power: Supreme Court About Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who accuses the centre of flagrantly eating into his authority, won some support for his argument in the Supreme Court today with judges observing, "An elected govt should have some power to run, otherwise the government cannot function."  The Chief Minister's case will be next heard on January 18.

Mr Kejriwal, who won the Delhi election in February 2015 so decisively that his Aam Aadmi Party lost only three seats in the entire capital, shares an epic hostility with Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, who is appointed by the centre to act as its representative. The Chief Minister says that any important decision taken by his government, including the appointment of senior bureaucrats, is negated by the Lieutenant Governor, who he accuses of acting as a stooge of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in undermining the Delhi government.

But the centre and the Lieutenant Governor say that because Delhi is not a state, Mr Jung has special powers and authorities, a line of argument accepted by the Delhi High Court which, in August, ruled against Mr Kejriwal. The court said that Mr Jung is the administrative head of the capital, which means that he has to sign off on government decisions.

Mr Kejriwal has challenged that verdict in the Supreme Court, which will hear his appeal in January.

In July, the Chief Minister, in a video posted on YouTube, said Prime Minister Modi, envious of the Delhi government's accomplishments, uses the Lieutenant Governor to exercise authority that should be vested only in an elected government.  In a gonzo profession, Mr Kejriwal suggested the PM could "even have me eliminated."