New Delhi:

Senior AAP leader and Lok Sabha MP Sanjay Singh has been released from Tihar jail after spending six months in jail in the Delhi liquor policy case. He walked out of jail on Wednesday night, a day after the Supreme Court granted him bail, which noted that there was “no trace” of alleged bribes received by the AAP for allotment of liquor licenses.

Mr Singh was released after jail authorities received bail orders and was welcomed by a large crowd of AAP supporters. Addressing the crowd from the roof of his car, the AAP leader said: “The biggest leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Satyendar Jain has been jailed.”

“I hope you can break the prison locks, chat all our web (I believe all jailed AAP leaders will be released),” he roared.

In what is seen as a political statement, Mr Singh will go directly to Mr Kejriwal’s home to meet Sunita, the wife of the Delhi chief minister. Mr. Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 in connection with the case. Later, he is expected to visit the AAP office and address the staff there.

Like Kejriwal, Singh was also arrested by the Enforcement Directorate, which is probing the money laundering angle in the Delhi liquor policy case. After being granted bail on Tuesday, senior AAP leader and Delhi minister Atishi said the Supreme Court order vindicated the party’s stand on the agency’s inability to trace bribe funds in the alleged scam and alleged coercion of witnesses.

Kejriwal’s former deputy Manish Sisodia and BRS leader K Kavitha have also been arrested in the same case and the opposition has made allegations of misuse of central agencies by the BJP a centerpiece of its campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. They noted that the arrests of opposition leaders, coupled with the freezing of parliamentary accounts, deprived them of a level playing field that was crucial to free and fair elections.

Several leaders, along with Mr Kejriwal’s wife, made this point strongly at the ‘Loktantra Bachao’ (Save Democracy) rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on Sunday, which was seen as a strength by the opposition India Bloc and a show of unity.

What impact will it have on the campaign?

The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted Singh bail and asked why he was jailed for more than six months without a trial or evidence that an accused-turned-supporter paid him a bribe.

However, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta Prasanna B Varale said the order could not be treated as a precedent but allowed Mr Singh to engage in political activities. This aspect could prove crucial for AAP, whose campaign could get a boost with the Lok Sabha polls less than three weeks away.