Court is last resort for AAP

NEWDELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is pinning its hopes on the Delhi High Court after it received another blow as President Ram Nath Kovind approved Election Commission’s recommendation to disqualify its 20 MLAS for holding office of profit.

The AAP said it will file a second petition to challenge Sunday’s order. Earlier, a petition by six of the 20 disqualified MLAS was filed on Friday, which is scheduled to be taken up in the high court on Monday. “We will file a fresh writ challenging Sunday’s notification,” said party spokesperson Raghav Chadha.

It remains to be seen if the court will club the new petition with the old one or hear the two separately, said AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj.

Meanwhile, the AAP leadership blamed the BJP government for the disqualifications. “A first reading of the Narendra Modi government-appointed Election Commission’s biased opinion and subsequent notification issued by the BJP’S Central government to hastily disqualify 20 elected Delhi MLAS shows constitutional authorities today are behaving like handmaidens of the Central government,” said the party.

If the party fails to get reprieve from the high court, it will approach the Supreme Court.

In case the court doesn’t give the party any relief, the disqualifications will not endanger the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government as it would only bring down its numbers from 66 to 46 in the 70-seat Delhi Assembly, mandating a bypoll in six months.

“Further, the EC has failed to answer the basic test laid down in