How courts dealt with cases of parties and politicians in the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections

March 22 was a date marked by politicians and political parties fighting legal battles before courts across the country..From Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament Tejasvi Surya, many high profile politicians were before courts on Friday. While some managed to secure relief, others returned disappointed.It was also a day when a sitting Chief Minister was denied relief, effectively meaning that he would now be running his government from prison, something unprecedented in the history of Indian democracy. Below are six cases against politicians and political parties that unfolded before the courts yesterday..Arvind Kejriwal (AAP) - Rouse Avenue Court - No relief.Delhi Chief Minister (CM) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal was remanded to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) till March 28 by the Rouse Avenue Court following his arrest in the Delhi Excise Policy case.Special Judge Kaveri Baweja partially accepted the plea by ED for Kejriwal's custody. The Court passed the remand order after hearing detailed submissions by the ED as well as Kejriwal's counsel.The ED had sought ten days of custody of Kejriwal, who was arrested by the agency on Thursday after a late night search at his residence.The arrest took place hours after his plea for interim protection from arrest was rejected by the Delhi High Court..Kejriwal moved the Supreme Court challenging his arrest on Thursday night, but eventually chose to withdraw that plea..K Kavitha (BRS) - Supreme Court - No relief.The Supreme Court refused to grant any urgent relief to BRS leader K Kavitha, who was recently arrested by the ED in a money laundering case connected to the Delhi Excise Policy case.A special bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, MM Sundresh and Bela M Trivedi said that she would have to approach the trial court for bail..The Court issued notice in Kavitha's challenge against provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and tagged the matter with the petitions seeking review of the Vijay Madanlal judgment.Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for Kavitha, did not mince his words in criticising the bench as the hearing drew to a close."If my lords don't mind me saying, when history of this Court is written, this period will not be golden," he said..Indian National Congress - Delhi High Court - No relief.The Delhi High Court rejected three petitions filed by the Indian National Congress (INC) challenging the reassessment proceedings initiated against the party by the Income Tax (IT) Department.The opposition party's petitions challenged the IT Department's reassessment proceedings initiated against it for the years 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17..The Congress has alleged that because of the case, its accounts have been frozen, leaving it cash-strapped to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls..K Ponmudi (DMK) - Supreme Court - Relief granted.The Supreme Court was informed on Friday that Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi has invited Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader K Ponmudi to be sworn in as a minister.This, after a Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra strongly berated the Governor on March 21 for his refusal to re-induct Ponmudi as a minister despite the top court having stayed his conviction in a criminal case. Following the development, Senior Advocate P Wilson, who represented the State government, said,"Parliamentary democracy survives because of you."Ponmudi was sworn in on Friday evening..Shobha Karandlaje (BJP) - Karnataka High Court - Relief granted.The Karnataka High Court stayed the first information report (FIR) against Union Minister and BJP leader Shobha Karandlaje for her statement linking the suspect in the Rameshwaram Cafe blast case with Tamil Nadu, Kannada Prabha reported.The FIR against Karandjale was registered under Section 123 (corrupt practice) and 125 (promoting enmity between classes in connection with election) of the Representation of the People Act. Justice Krishna S Dixit questioned the offences invoked and remarked that the country was not under a Nazi regime..The FIR was registered by the flying squad of the Election Commission of India (ECI) following Karandlaje's statement during a protest in Bengaluru. Karandlaje later apologised and withdrew her statement through posts on X..Tejasvi Surya (BJP) - Karnataka High Court - Relief granted.Justice Krishna S Dixit on Friday also stayed an FIR against BJP MP Tejasvi Surya for posting allegedly objectionable tweets and violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC)..According to NDTV, the case was registered after a complaint by ECI and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) alleging that Surya had in an X post targeted a minority community and spread enmity between two communities. .Based on the complaint, an FIR was registered against Surya under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 295 A (Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code as well as under the Representation of the People Act.