EC rejects plea to drop case against 20 AAP legislators

OFFICE OF PROFIT MLAs could face disqualification as hearings will continue

The Election Commission has said it will move forward on a petition seeking the disqualification of a group of Aam Aadmi Party legislators for allegedly holding an office of profit.

The panel rejected late on Friday the lawmakers’ plea that the private petition against them be dropped, clearing the decks for their possible removal from the Delhi assembly. A final decision is expected in August on whether the legislators violated rules by holding the posts of parliamentary secretaries.

Although an adverse ruling will pose no threat to the Arvind Kejriwal government, such a setback will only further demoralise the party after its string of election losses, including the city civic polls in April.

Should the MLAs be disqualified and by-elections called, it will again test the party’s grip on the national capital. A poor showing will also weaken Kejriwal’s hold over the Delhi assembly where he now has 65 members in a house of 70.

The poll panel said in its order the AAP MLAs “did hold de facto the office of parliamentary secretaries”. The AAP said it respects the ruling and hinted that the party might challenge it in court.

A parliamentary secretary assists a minister, and the office comes with perks as well as a measure of political influence. Often MLAs who can’t be accommodated in the government are appointed to the post.

The Election Commission banned on Saturday senior Madhya Pradesh minister Narottam Mishra from contesting elections for three years for allegedly using paid news to fan his assembly election campaign in 2008.

“As per law, Mishra stands disqualified from the

The controversy dates back to the weeks after the party won a majority in the Delhi assembly elections and appointed 21 lawmakers as parliament secretaries in March, 2015.

As protests over the appointments date of issuance of order and debarred further for three years from contesting elections,” an Election Commission official said.

The EC decision came on a complaint by Rajendra Bharti, who had fought the 2008 elections as a BSP candidate, but is now with the Congress.

Mishra is considered number two in the state government. ››P14

grew, the Kejriwal government sought to shield the MLAs by excluding the post of parliamentary secretary from the ambit of office of profit laws.

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