In a blow to AAP, President approves disqualification of 20 party MLAs
Senior AAP leader Gopal Rai said the decision by President Kovind was an unfortunate one and that the party will knock the doors of High Court and even Supreme Court if need be. "We had hoped to go to the President asking him to give us a chance to present ourselves. Now we received this news. AAP will knock the doors of HC and even SC if the need arises," Gopal Rai said.
In a major blow to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday approved the disqualification of twenty MLAs in Delhi on charges of holding Office of Profit, an official spokesman said on Sunday. The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday had recommended to the President that twenty AAP MLAs should be disqualified from the Delhi Assembly. “In the light of the opinion expressed by the Election Commission (EC), the 20 members of the Delhi legislative assembly have been disqualified,” a notification issued by the law ministry quoted the president as saying.
Earlier in the day, Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had alleged that ECI did not give a fair chance to AAP to explain its stand. The MLAs who have been disqualified are Alka Lamba, Adarsh Shastri, Sanjeev Jha, Rajesh Gupta, Kailash Gehlot, Vijendra Garg, Praveen Kumar, Sharad Kumar, Madan Lal Khufiya, Shiv Charan Goyal, Sarita Singh, Naresh Yadav, Rajesh Rishi, Anil Kumar, Som Dutt, Avtar Singh, Sukhvir Singh Dala, Manoj Kumar and Nitin Tyagi. The 20 MLAs had approached the Delhi High Court challenging the EC’s recommendation but Justice Rekha Palli had refused to pass any interim order.
Senior AAP leader Gopal Rai said the decision by President Kovind was an unfortunate one and that the party will knock the doors of High Court and even Supreme Court if need be. "We had hoped to go to the President asking him to give us a chance to present ourselves. Now we received this news. AAP will knock the doors of HC and even SC if the need arises," Gopal Rai said. With the disqualification of 20 MLAs, there is no immediate threat to the Arvind Kejriwal-led party as their majority will reduce to 46 from 66 MLAs, which is still a majority.
Unfortunate that the President took the decision in such haste, without giving us chance to speak. It's an act of Centre using constitutional institutions. We've trust on judiciary. Doors of HC & SC is open for us.: Alka Lamba, one of the 20 disqualified AAP MLAs #OfficeOfProfit pic.twitter.com/BckXd6C11U
— ANI (@ANI) January 21, 2018
Reacting to the development, Congress leader Ajay Maken said that AAP had received help from the BJP and the Election Commission. He said had the decision come before December 22, the 20 MLAs would've been disqualified and couldn't have voted for the Rajya Sabha elections. "AAP has been helped by BJP and Election Commission by delaying the decision for over three weeks. If the decision had come before December 22, these 20 MLAs would've been disqualified and couldn't have voted for the Rajya Sabha elections," said Congress leader Ajay Maken.
Senior AAP leader Gopal Rai said the decision by President Kovind was an unfortunate one and that the party will knock the doors of High Court and even Supreme Court if need be. "We had hoped to go to the President asking him to give us a chance to present ourselves. Now we received this news. AAP will knock the doors of HC and even SC if the need arises," Gopal Rai said.
In a major blow to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday approved the disqualification of twenty MLAs in Delhi on charges of holding Office of Profit, an official spokesman said on Sunday. The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday had recommended to the President that twenty AAP MLAs should be disqualified from the Delhi Assembly. “In the light of the opinion expressed by the Election Commission (EC), the 20 members of the Delhi legislative assembly have been disqualified,” a notification issued by the law ministry quoted the president as saying.
Earlier in the day, Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had alleged that ECI did not give a fair chance to AAP to explain its stand. The MLAs who have been disqualified are Alka Lamba, Adarsh Shastri, Sanjeev Jha, Rajesh Gupta, Kailash Gehlot, Vijendra Garg, Praveen Kumar, Sharad Kumar, Madan Lal Khufiya, Shiv Charan Goyal, Sarita Singh, Naresh Yadav, Rajesh Rishi, Anil Kumar, Som Dutt, Avtar Singh, Sukhvir Singh Dala, Manoj Kumar and Nitin Tyagi. The 20 MLAs had approached the Delhi High Court challenging the EC’s recommendation but Justice Rekha Palli had refused to pass any interim order.
Senior AAP leader Gopal Rai said the decision by President Kovind was an unfortunate one and that the party will knock the doors of High Court and even Supreme Court if need be. "We had hoped to go to the President asking him to give us a chance to present ourselves. Now we received this news. AAP will knock the doors of HC and even SC if the need arises," Gopal Rai said. With the disqualification of 20 MLAs, there is no immediate threat to the Arvind Kejriwal-led party as their majority will reduce to 46 from 66 MLAs, which is still a majority.
Unfortunate that the President took the decision in such haste, without giving us chance to speak. It's an act of Centre using constitutional institutions. We've trust on judiciary. Doors of HC & SC is open for us.: Alka Lamba, one of the 20 disqualified AAP MLAs #OfficeOfProfit pic.twitter.com/BckXd6C11U
— ANI (@ANI) January 21, 2018
Reacting to the development, Congress leader Ajay Maken said that AAP had received help from the BJP and the Election Commission. He said had the decision come before December 22, the 20 MLAs would've been disqualified and couldn't have voted for the Rajya Sabha elections. "AAP has been helped by BJP and Election Commission by delaying the decision for over three weeks. If the decision had come before December 22, these 20 MLAs would've been disqualified and couldn't have voted for the Rajya Sabha elections," said Congress leader Ajay Maken.
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