EC moots disqualification of 20 AAP MLAs who were parliamentary secretaries

NEW DELHI: The stage could be set for a “mini election” in the capital, with the Election Commission understood to have recommended the disqualification of 20 Aam Aadmi Party MLAs for holding “office of profit” as parliamentary secretaries.
The likely disqualification will significantly reduce AAP’s massive majority in the Delhi assembly. The EC’s recommendation was communicated to President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday and he is expected to refer it to the home ministry.The EC’s advice is binding on the President whose role is limited to despatching it to the MHA.


Unless the MLAs receive relief from the courts, the process of disqualification could see byelections being held in the next six months. The bypolls will be a serious test for the Arvind Kejriwal government with BJP looking to regain footing in the capital where it holds all seven Parliament seats and Congress hoping to end its irrelevance in the city where it held office till 2013.
Read also: Why parties risk action to create parliamentary secretary posts
The EC’s recommendation comes just ahead of chief election commissioner A K Joti’s retirement on January 22. TOI had exclusively reported on Thursday that the fate of the 20 AAP MLAs embroiled in the office-of-profit row would be decided before Joti demitted office.
While AAP reacted angrily to the development and accused the poll panel of bias, BJP and Congress called for chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s resignation.
The EC remained tightlipped on the opinion forwarded to the President. However, sources indicated that the disqualification of respondent MLAs was in line with a June 2017 order stating that the AAP MLAs did hold “de facto the office of parliamentary secretaries from March 13, 2015 to September 8, 2016”.
The EC’s view was crucial in the light of the Delhi high court order in September 2016 that set aside the appointment of the MLAs as parliamentary secretaries “ab initio”, or as invalid from the start. The EC debated whether this meant there was no case for disqualification, as argued by AAP, but finally said the MLAs did enjoy the benefits of office by way of facilities made available to them until the high court scrapped their appointment.
The Delhi HC had quashed the notification issued by the AAP government in March 2015, by which it appointed 21 of its MLAs as parliamentary secretaries, as the decision was taken without the concurrence or approval of the lieutenant governor. The President also rejected a bill brought by the AAP government to protect the MLAs from the provisions of the office-ofprofit rule. One of the 21 MLAs, Jarnail Singh, later resigned to contest the Punjab polls.
Also read: List of AAP MLAs who face disqualification
Under Article 102(1)(a) of the Constitution, holding any “office of profit”, which means a post with financial and other benefits, is ground for disqualification of an MP or MLA. Some big names that have been tripped by the rule include former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachchan. Sonia, who was alleged to have held office of profit as chairperson of the National Advisory Council when UPA was in office, resigned from the Lok Sabha ahead of an imminent decision on her disqualification and was successfully re-elected. Bachchan was disqualified over a post in the UP Film Development Council.
In the event of bypolls being necessitated, AAP faces the challenge of sustaining the overwhelming majority of 66 in the assembly of 70. In fact, it had won 67 seats. BJP has since won elections to Delhi’s three municipal corporations and an assembly bypoll. Though AAP convincingly won the bypoll for Bawana seat, the two opposition parties are challenging AAP’s integrity plank, already dented by corruption charges against some ministers and its decision to elevate two businessmen to the Rajya Sabha. Opponents have also tried to corner the Kejriwal government on the performance front.
On the other hand, BJP had stumbled in the last byelection and Congress is yet to taste any significant success since it was blanked in the 2015 assembly polls. The current court-ordered sealings have created considerable unrest in the capital and while BJP has projected a new leadership, the city unit is not exactly united with some veterans unhappy over their loss of clout.
AAP has also carved out pockets of influence among the underprivileged sections on the basis of power and water subsidy. More importantly, it has turned “pragmatic” and can hold its own against its older rivals in that respect. While the exact grounds that led to the EC decision will be known after the disqualification order is put out once cleared by the President, petitioner and Delhi lawyer Prashant Patel Umrao said contentions made by the Delhi chief secretary before the EC, detailing expenses incurred on providing offices, rooms and cabins and their having attended conferences and chaired review meetings, may have helped his case against the AAP MLAs.