NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi suffered a major blow on Friday as the Election Commission recommended to the President of India that 20 legislators of the party be disqualified for holding offices of profit. The MLAs also function as parliamentary secretaries to seven ministries. The AAP has offered the argument that these MLAs do not accept a single penny as remuneration and hence they do not invite disqualification.

“This is (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi’s Election Commission,” said the AAP even as the BJP and the Congress called for the resignation of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The AAP has a strength of 66 in the legislature that has 70 seats and there is no threat to Kejriwal as of now.

However, disqualification would necessitate by-elections to the 20 seats and will open up a chance for the BJP as well as the Congress to make an effort for some seats.

The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to entertain an AAP appeal for interim relief to the legislators. The court pointed out that the MLAs did not attend the Election Commission’s hearings.

In 2015, then President Pranab Mukherjee had referred the case to the poll body in response to a private petition after the AAP government on March 13 passed an order appointing 21 MLAs as parliamentary secretaries. The Delhi Legislative Assembly passed an amendment Bill, excluding Parliamentary Secretaries from “office of profit’ with retrospective effect. However, the President withheld assent to it.

The MLAs insist they do not draw facilities such as official space, vehicle, staff for office, residential accommodation, technical devices, travelling allowance or any additional emoluments / reimbursement of any nature is being given to the MLAs in their capacity as Parliamentary Secretary.

Kejriwal and his party have insisted that the appointments violate no rules.

The Congress and BJP promptly mounted stinging attacks on AAP and asked Kejriwal to quit.

“Arvind Kejriwal has no right to continue,” Ajay Maken, the Delhi Congress president who was also among the first to campaign against AAP lawmakers, accusing them of violating the constitutional provision.

BJP’s Sambit Patra said: “15 AAP MLAs have cases against them. Few are on bail and some of the MLAs are in jail. Shouldn’t Mr Arvind Kejriwal resign?” The Congress said that on Monday it will march to the secretariat to demand Kejriwal’s resignation.

Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee backed Kejriwal and his team.

She tweeted: “A Constitutional body cannot be used for political vendetta. The 20 AAP MLAs were not even given a hearing by the Hon EC.

Most unfortunate. This goes against the principles of natural justice. At this hour we are strongly with @arvindkejriwal and his team.” Interestingly, parliamentary secretaries are not new to Delhi administration. BJP MLA Nand Kishore Garg was parliamentary secretary to Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma. Ajay Maken himself held the post under Congress chief minister Sheila Dikshit, along with MLAs M. Sharma and PS Sawhney.

Eleven other states have parliamentary secretaries including Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka.

In 2006, a question was raised over Sonia Gandhi’s National Advisory Council (NAC) post, which she held apart from being the MP from Rae Bareilly. Opposition parties argued that since she enjoyed the rank and status of a Union Cabinet minister as NAC chief, the office of profit law applied.