AAP in trouble as EC wants 20 Delhi MLAs disqualified

new delhi — In a major setback to the ruling AAP in Delhi, the Election Commission on Friday recommended disqualification of 20 of its MLAs for holding office of profit as Parliamentary Secretaries, triggering an angry reaction from the party.

The Election Commission gave its opinion to President Ram Nath Kovind on a complaint by the Congress filed in June 2016 seeking disqualification of the MLAs. The decision led to calls by the Congress and BJP for Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s resignation.

The Congress application said 21 AAP MLAs, including Jarnail Singh (Rajouri Garden) who resigned to contest the Punjab Assembly polls last year, were appointed Parliamentary Secretaries to Ministers in the Delhi government in violation of the Constitution.

The President is bound to act in accordance with the poll panel’s recommendation.

There was no official word from the poll panel. But sources said the Commission’s recommendation had been sent to Kovind.

The move will pave the way for by-polls in Delhi for 20 constituencies of the 70-member assembly. The AAP at present has officially 66 members in the House although some have turned dissidents. The other four seats are held by the BJP.

Even if 20 MLAs are disqualified, the ruling party will still have a comfortable majority in the Delhi Assembly. But by-elections, if called, will put to test Kejriwal’s grip on Delhi.

The MLAs who face the axe are Alka Lamba, Adarsh Shastri, Sanjeev Jha, Rajesh Gupta, Kailash Gehlot, Vijendra Garg, Praveen Kumar, Sharad Kumar, Madan Lal Khufiya, Shiv Charan Goyal, Sarita Singh, Naresh Yadav, Rajesh Rishi, Anil Kumar, Som Dutt, Avtar Singh, Sukhvir Singh Dala, Manoj Kumar, Nitin Tyagi and Jarnail Singh (Tilak Nagar).

The AAP said the EC recommendation was based on false allegations, alleging that the “BJP through its agents seriously compromises the prestige of the EC just to divert the attention of the nation from its all round failures.

“What (the) Modi government appointed Election Commission is leaking to the media is a recommendation made without hearing the arguments of MLAs on the false allegation of office of profit. Such a blatantly biased recommendation will not stand scrutiny in court of law,” Kejriwal’s media advisor Nagendra Sharma said.

AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh

The EC should not be the letter box of the PMO. But that is the reality today”. Ashutosh Gupta, AAP leader

Bhardwaj said there was a political conspiracy against the party, alleging that Chief Election Commissioner Achal Kumar Jyoti, a 1975 batch IAS officer who was Gujarat Chief Secretary when Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister, was “paying back” to Prime Minister just a few days before demitting office. Joti’s term expires on Monday.

The Congress and the BJP welcomed the move and asked Kejriwal to step down.

“Kejriwal has no right to continue. Half of his cabinet ministers were removed on corruption charges. Twenty MLAs who were enjoying ministerial perks would be disqualified,” Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken said.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said Kejriwal has lost the moral right to continue. He accused the Chief Minister of acting like a dictator, saying “the party and the government function on the basis of (whatever he says). —