20 AAP MLAs Disqualified By Election Commission Over ‘Office Of Profit’ Charge

In a major blow to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi, the Election Commission (EC) today (19 January) recommended the disqualification of the 20 AAP Members of Legislative Assembly (MLA) who were appointed as parliament secretaries by the party.

Under the Indian Constitution, elected members of the assembly cannot hold an executive office which carries with it any kind of financial incentive, and doing so carries the penalty of immediate disqualification from the assembly. The appointment of the MLAs as parliament secretaries was hence deemed unconstitutional.

Taking action on a 2015 plea by lawyer Prashant Patel to the President’s office, which called for the disqualification of 21 AAP MLAs, the EC today (19 January) sent its recommendation to the President for approval. The Delhi High Court had earlier set aside the order appointing the MLAs as parliament secretaries.

One MLA had earlier resigned to contest assembly elections in Punjab, where he lost to the former Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal. AAP now holds 45 seats in the Delhi assembly after another MLA, Kapil Mishra, was expelled from the party.

Although AAP will still hold a majority in the assembly after the election, the disqualification will lead to a mini assembly election in Delhi. The party was routed in the recent Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had secured a majority in all the three civic bodies in Delhi.

The disqualifications have led to mixed reactions from the people, with the BJP and the Congress calling for Kejriwal to resign, and the AAP taking potshots at the EC.

People also congratulated the 30-year old lawyer on taking down the AAP MLAs single-handedly.