A Delhi court on Tuesday extended the judicial custody of CM Arvind Kejriwal till May 20 in the Liquor policy case. Kejriwal was produced before the court via video conferencing on the expiry of his custody which was granted earlier. Special Judge for CBI and Enforcement Directorate Kaveri Baweja also extended the judicial custody of co-accused Chanpreet Singh till May 20.

The order coincided with the hearing in the Supreme Court as Arvind Kejriwal had challenged his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in the liquor policy case. The two-judge bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sanjiv Khanna expressed that it will consider the question of interim bail for Arvind Kejriwal. The court said that Arvind Kejriwal is the elected chief minister of Delhi and the current circumstances are extraordinary as the Lok Sabha elections are taking place.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who was appearing for the Enforcement Directorate, objected to the Supreme Court hearing arguments on interim bail and asked what example are we setting? He asked if the other people are less important than the chief minister.  He further questioned why a chief minister is being treated differently than a common man. Mehta added there cannot be any deviation only because he is a chief minister.

During the hearing, the top court told Arvind Kejriwal’s counsel that granting interim bail to the chief minister would come under the condition that he will refrain from carrying out any official duties, as this can potentially cause conflicts. The court said that had there been no elections, it would not have given any interim relief and added that they do not want to interfere with the working of the government.

The Enforcement Directorate arrested Arvind Kejriwal on March 21 in connection with corruption allegations linked to Delhi’s liquor policy, charges which have been denied by the Aam Aadmi Party. He is currently under judicial custody in Tihar jail.

An overall voter turnout of around 40% was recorded as of 1 pm on Tuesday in the 3rd phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. The highest overall voter turnout was recorded in West Bengal at 49.27% as of 1 pm which was followed closely by Goa with 49.04% voter turnout so far.

States such as Assam, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh as well as Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli also saw an increase in the voting trends. While Gujarat recorded an overall voter turnout of 37.83 %, Uttar Pradesh recorded a voter turnout of 38.12 %. Maharashtra continued to log the lowest voter turnout till 1 pm. The state, which has the second highest number of Lok Sabha seats after Uttar Pradesh, saw an overall voter turnout of less than 32% till 1 pm.

In Uttar Pradesh, Firozabad 40.06 %,Sambhal recorded 42.97 % voter turnout, Etah 38.87 %, Fatehpur Sikri 39.09 %, Hathras 37.73 %, Agra witnessed 36.89 % voting, Mainpuri 38.82 %, Budaun 34.97%, and Bareilly 34.93 %, Aonla recorded 36.95 % voting.

In Bihar about 36.69 % voter turnout was recorded across five Lok Sabha seats. Supaul recorded the highest voter turnout at 38.58 %, followed by Araria (37.09 %), Khagaria (36.02 %), Madhepura (36.84 %) and Jhanjharpur (34.94%) till 1 pm. Out of the 14 Lok Sabha seats that went to polls in Karnataka, Chikkodi recorded the highest voter turnout at 45.69 %, followed by Shimoga at 44.98 %. Gulbarga recorded the least voter turnout at 37.48 %.

In Maharashtra, Hatkanangle 36.17%, Kolhapur registered 38.42% voter turnout, Satara 32.78 %, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg 33.91%, Raigad 31.34 %, Latur 32.71 %, Sangli 29.65 %, Osmanabad 30.54 %, Baramati 27.55 % Solapur 29.32 % and Madha 26.61%.

In Assam, Dhubri recorded the highest voter turnout of 47.73%, followed by Barpeta at 46.83%. While Kokrajhar recorded a voter turnout of 46.43 %, Guwahati had a polling percentage of 42.13%.

Former Rajasthan Congress leader Radhika Khera today joined the BJP. She had left the grand old party a few days earlier after accusing senior leaders of harassment.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) spokesperson Khera announced her resignation from the Congress on Sunday, citing an alleged plot against her. She added that she felt punished for going to the Ayodhya Ram Mandir.

Speaking to the media on Monday, Khera claimed that she had been mistreated, locked in a room, and harassed by Chhattisgarh Congress party leaders. She said that although she brought up the matter with the party officials, nothing came of it.

Khera, who had recently joined the BJP, praised the saffron party for their support and charged the Congress of being anti-Hindu.

After joining the BJP, Khera said, she wouldn’t be able to be here if she hadn’t received protection from the pm Modi-led BJP government. The manner in which I was misbehaved with on the land of Kaushalya Mata for being a devotee of Ram, for having darshan of Ram Lalla, she was mistreated, Khera said. The Congress of today is anti-Ram and anti-Hindu, it is not the Congress of Mahatma Gandhi, the she added.

Radhika Khera said in her resignation letter to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge that she was being criticised by other members of the party for her inability to control her desire to visit the Ram Temple and see the idol of Ram Lalla.

Before that, a video of Khera complaining about being disrespected had gone viral. She was clearly unhappy. She is heard accusing an unidentified person, saying that no one in the party is respected, particularly women who are elected to office.

She claimed, the chairperson of the Chhattisgarh Congress unit’s communication wing, Sushil Anand, and a few other people, verbally harassed her using words that she never thought existed during an incident on April 30, which she later disclosed details of. It is said that the men allgedly locked her in a room for a minute while a couple of other people stood outise the room to keep an eye on her in case she tried to run away.