New Delhi: In a blow to Delhi’s ruling Aam Admi Party, the Election Commission on Friday recommended to the President the disqualification of 20 of its MLAs for holding office of profit, setting the stage for their ouster from the Assembly
In its opinion sent to President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday morning, the Election Commission said the MLAs, by occupying the post of parliamentary secretaries between March 13, 2015 and September 8, 2016, held office of profit, and were liable to be disqualified as legislators, highly-placed sources said
The President is bound to go by the recommendation of the Commission. Under the rules, petitions to the President seeking disqualification of lawmakers are referred to the EC
The poll panel takes a decision and sends its recommendation to the Rashtrapati Bhavan which is accepted
In the present case, the petition was made to disqualify 21 MLAs, but one resigned a few months back
Once the President accepts the opinion, by-elections will have to be held for the 20 Assembly seats
The AAP has a massive majority in the 70-member Delhi assembly with 65 seats, and the impending disqualification will not endanger the Arvind Kejriwal government though the number of party MLAs will come down to 45
An angry AAP said the Election Commission had never “touched this low”, and insinuated that the prime minister was behind the action
“The EC should not be the letter box of the PMO. But that is the reality today,” AAP leader Ashutosh tweeted
The Congress, which ruled the state for a long time, welcomed the EC decision, with its Delhi unit chief Ajay Maken saying Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has lost the right to be in power after the EC decision
Regretting that the Election Commission allowed “undue” adjournments to AAP MLAs that cost the people of Delhi dearly, the BJP’s Delhi chief Manoj Tiwari said the party stands prepared for elections “any moment”
“We welcome the EC decision disqualifying 20 AAP MLAs
Arvind Kejriwal should take responsibility for moral defeat and resign,” he said
There, however, was no official word from the Commission
When contacted, Chief Election Commissioner A K Joti said since the matter is sub-judice, he would not offer any comment on the issue
The 20 MLAs set to be disqualified include, Adarsh Shastri (Dwarka), Alka Lamba (Chandni Chowk), Anil Bajpai (Gandhi Nagar), Avtar Singh (Kalkaji), Kailash Gahlot (Najafgarh) — who is also a minister — Madan Lal (Kasturba Nagar), Manoj Kumar (Kondli), Naresh Yadav (Mehrauli), Nitin Tyagi (Laxmi Nagar), Praveen Kumar (Jangpura)
Others are: Rajesh Gupta (Wazirpur), Rajesh Rishi ( Janakpuri), Sanjeev Jha (Burari), Sarita Singh (Rohtas Nagar), Som Dutt (Sadar Bazar), Sharad Kumar (Narela), Shiv Charan Goel (Moti Nagar), Sukhbir Singh (Mundka), Vijendar Garg (Rajinder Nagar) and Jarnail Singh (Tilak Nagar).
PTI