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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  AAP takes battle over disqualification of MLAs to the public
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AAP takes battle over disqualification of MLAs to the public

AAP leader Manish Sisodia cautioned in an open letter that disqualification and a series of elections following the move will lead to a suspension of development work in the capital

AAP MLAs disqualified by the Election Commission outside the Delhi high court on Monday. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/MintPremium
AAP MLAs disqualified by the Election Commission outside the Delhi high court on Monday. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday took the battle over the disqualification of 20 of its legislators to the public, even as it plans to pursue legal options.

President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday accepted an Election Commission (EC) recommendation to disqualify these legislators for holding offices of profit.

Disqualification and a series of elections following the move will lead to a suspension of development work in the capital, Delhi deputy chief minister and senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia cautioned in an open letter.

“Having disqualified 20 MLAs, they have forced elections on Delhi. There will be model code of conduct put in the national capital and all developmental work will have to stop. Soon after that, there will be Lok Sabha elections and once again, government work will be put on standstill while the model code of conduct is underway. Then there will be assembly elections," Sisodia wrote.

Even after the disqualification, the AAP will have a strength of 46 in the 70-member assembly; so its government is not under threat.

Meanwhile, six of the disqualified legislators who had moved the Delhi high court on 19 January, seeking an interim stay on the EC recommendation, withdrew their application on Monday.

“The party is looking at all the legal options that are available to us. We want to go to court with a stronger case to get a stay on the disqualification," said an AAP leader, who did not wish to be named.

“In the light of the subsequent events, the present application has become infructuous. The present application stands dismissed as withdrawn," Justice Rekha Palli observed.

EC informed the court that the “final opinion" recommending disqualification of 20 AAP MLAs had already been forwarded to the President for his assent on the evening of 19 January and the presidential order disqualifying the MLAs was notified on 20 January.

Six of the 20 AAP MLAs namely, Nitin Tyagi, Kailash Gehlot, Sanjeev Jha, Sharad Kumar, Somdutt and Madan Lal, had moved the Delhi high court on 19 January, seeking an interim stay on the “final opinion" of the EC that recommended their disqualification.

Justice Rekha Palli had refused to grant an interim stay as EC was unable to make a statement with respect to whether the “final opinion" had been forwarded to the President.

“We withdrew the previous petition as it was related to the recommendations of the Election Commission. Now that the President has accepted the recommendations, there is a need for a fresh petition to be filed," the senior AAP leader mentioned above said.

To assist cabinet ministers in governance work, the AAP-led Delhi government had appointed 21 members of the legislative assembly as parliamentary secretaries in March 2015. Jarnail Singh who had resigned from his seat, is no longer a part of the office of profit case.

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Published: 22 Jan 2018, 11:27 PM IST
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