The Election Commission has recommended the disqualification of 20 AAP MLAs finding them guilty of holding office of Profit. The EC has written to President Ram Nath Kovind. The 20 AAP legislators were accused of being unconstitutionally appointed as parliamentary secretaries to assist various ministers of the Delhi government.
Initially, the case was against 21 MLAs but it now stands at 20 after Rajouri Garden MLA Jarnail Singh resigned to contest against Parkash Singh Badal in the Punjab Assembly elections last year.
The party will now approach the Delhi HC, pleading that the recommendation be struck down. “This is unprecedented. The MLAs in question didn’t get a chance to present their case before the EC. In fact, we didn’t hear about the news from the EC, but news channels,” AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said.
According to the Constitution, Members of Parliament or legislators are prohibited from accepting government positions which carry some financial remuneration or any other benefit such as office space, accomodation, or even a car. Any violation of this provision attracts disqualification of the legislator for holding an office of profit. The aim of this provision is to preserve the independence of the legislature by keeping its members away from any temptations from the executive.
These are the 20 AAP MLAs the Election Commission has found guilty of ‘office of profit’
- Naresh Yadav (Mehrauli)
2. Som Dutt (Sadar Bazar)
3. Praveen Kumar (Jangpura)
4. Nitin Tyagi (Laxmi Nagar)
5. Adarsh Shastri (Dwarka)
6. Sanjeev Jha (Burari)
7. Jarnail Singh (Tilak Nagar)
8. Sukhvir Singh (Mundka)
9. Madan Lal (Kasturba Nagar)
10. Sarita Singh (Rohtas Nagar)
11. Alka Lamba (Chandni Chowk)
12. Rajesh Rishi (Janakpuri)
13. Anil Kumar Bajpai (Gandhi Nagar)
14. Manoj Kumar (Kondli)
15. Kailash Gahlot (Najafgarh)
16. Avtar Singh (Kalkaji)
17. Vijendar Garg Vijay (Rajinder Nagar)
18. Rajesh Gupta (Wazirpur)
19. Sharad Kumar (Narela)
20. Shiv Charan Goel (Moti Nagar)