Dismissing a petition seeking prosecution of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, a city court said that Mr Kejriwal had not offered any gratification to voters in the Assembly elections last year and no offence of bribery could be made out against him.

The court’s order came while refusing to direct the police to lodge an FIR against Mr Kejriwal for allegedly exhorting voters to take bribes from the Congress and the BJP and vote for the AAP in the 2015 Assembly elections.

“In the given case, the accused (Mr Kejriwal) has not offered any gratification to the voters for casting votes in favour of his party. He has merely stated that allurements are generally offered by some parties, if offered this time, do not refuse the same, but cast vote in favour of his party. He himself has not offered any gratification in lieu of casting votes in favour of his party,” said metropolitan magistrate Babru Bhan.

“In my considered opinion, no offence is made out against the accused. Hence, the application of the complainant under Section 156(3) CrPC and the complaint is hereby dismissed,” the magistrate said in the four-page order.

The court passed the order on the complaint of advocate Ikrant Sharma, who had alleged that during campaign in January last year Mr Kejriwal had abetted the voters of Delhi to accept illegal gratification from the BJP and the Congress as a reward for casting their votes. It said that for abetment of this offence, a person must instigate a voter to accept the gratification for exercising electoral right.