Prez disqualifies 20 AAP MLAs, party says move dangerous for democracy
In a major setback to the AAP, President Ram Nath Kovind has disqualified 20 of its MLAs in Delhi for holding offices of profit, a move the party said showed constitutional authorities were behaving like “handmaidens of the central government”.
Kovind gave his assent yesterday to the recommendation by the Election Commission (EC).
Reacting to the development, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, “There was some logic when God gave us 67 seats. The Almighty stood behind us in our every step. Otherwise we would have been nothing... Just don't stray away from the path of truth.” At a gathering in Najafgarh, he said, “They are trying to harass us by all means... They got CBI raid done at my office, but after 24hour search they only found my four mufflers. Our MLAs were arrested.”
“The L-G had called 400 files of our government (pertaining to decisions taken in two years), but they did not find anything against us. When they did not find anything against us, they today disqualified our 20 MLAs,” Kejriwal said.
Senior AAP leader Ashutosh said the president's order to disqualify AAP MLAs is “unconstitutional” and “dangerous for democracy”.
“The President, Sri Ram Nath Kovind should himself contemplate if he has enhanced his stature in history as the President of the Republic of India by signing to disqualify AAP MLAs?” he tweeted.
Saurab Bharadwaj, chief spokesperson of the party's Delhi unit said for the AAP, it is not a matter confined to its 20 MLAs, the fight is for safeguarding the democracy and protecting constitutional institutions from decimation.
Hitting out at the Election Commission, he said the chief election commissioner and the election commissioners are expected to behave in an independent and impartial manner and not as "political stooges of their masters who appoint them".