In a blow to Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party, the Election Commission today recommended to the President to disqualify 20 of its MLAs for holding offices of profit, setting the stage for their ouster from the Assembly. Seven of these MLAs, meanwhile, moved the Delhi High Court challenging the poll panel's recommendation. The matter was mentioned before a bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal, which has listed the matter for hearing today itself. In its opinion sent to President Ram Nath Kovind this 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. Parliamentary Secretaries assist ministers with their work. Reacting sharply to the EC's decision, the AAP attacked Chief Election Commissioner A K Joti, saying he was "repaying the debt" to Prime Minister Narendra Modi before his retirement. "A K Joti was the principal secretary under (the then Gujarat Chief Minister) Narendra Modi and then the chief secretary of Gujarat. He is retiring on Monday. So you want to repay Modi ji's debt. You are mortgaging a constitutional post like the Election Commission," AAP's Delhi unit spokesman Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged. "The EC should not be the letter box of the PMO. But that is the reality today," another senior AAP leader Ashutosh tweeted. Joti, an IAS officer of 1975 batch of Gujarat cadre, took charge as an election commissioner in 2015 before his elevation as CEC. He is set to retire on January 22. Noting that the EC's order defied the "principles of natural justice", Bharadwaj said the poll panel did not hear the MLAs' side. 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 recommendation, by-elections will have to be held for 20 Assembly seats. The disqualification will not put into jeopardy the fate of the Arvind Kejriwal government as the AAP has a massive majority in the 70-member Delhi assembly with 65 seats. The number of its MLAs will, however, come down drastically to 45. The BJP was quick to question if the AAP government had any "moral right" left after the EC's recommendation to the president. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra cited corruption and criminal cases against AAP MLas to claim that the party which started its political journey from India Against Corruption movement has become "I am corruption". "Many of the Kejriwal cabinet members had to resign. Fifteen of their MLAs have cases against them and 12 were arrested under different charges. In this scenario, the biggest question before the people is whether Arvind Kejriwal government has any moral right to remain in power," Patra told reporters. Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari lauded the EC's action, saying it is a "moral defeat" for Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and that he should resign. He said the BJP 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. The Delhi Congress also demanded Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's resignation, with its president Ajay Maken saying that Kejriwal had lost the right to be in power. "Kejriwal has no right to continue. Half of his cabinet ministers removed on corruption charges! 20 MLAs who were enjoying ministerial perks would be disqualified! (sic)," the Congress leader tweeted. "Where is Lokpal? The MLAs and Ministers enjoying perks of power and foreign travel-Where is political probity (sic)?," the tweet further read. 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).
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)