Act on MLAs in other states: AAP

AAP leaders Dilip Pandey (from left), Deepak Bajpai, Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha after a meeting with the Chief Election Commissioner in New Delhi on Thursday.

Facing heat over a possible disqualification of its 21 Delhi legislators over the issue of office of profit, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has approached the Election Commission seeking similar action against over 100 legislators holding such posts in other states. The poll panel however asked the party to approach the President and the governors of the states concerned with its plea.

A delegation of AAP leaders, led by the party’s Punjab convenor Sanjay Singh, met election commissioner A.K. Joti and submitted a list of such 130 MLAs who are apparently enjoying a number of perks in several states, including Punjab, Gujarat and Nagaland.

AAP’s Punjab, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh units have made similar complaints to respective state’s chief electoral officers and the Election Commission.

The party intends to file a similar complaint in Gujarat and Chhattisgarh and other parts of the country by Friday. “We have written to the Election Commission seeking disqualification of parliamentary secretaries. The Punjab, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh units have already done it. The remaining units will follow the suit by tomorrow,” party spokesperson Deepak Bajpai said.

“We gave a list of chief parliamentary secretaries and parliamentary secretaries across several states to the Commission and have demanded that they be disqualified since they are being given the facility of cars, bungalows, fat salaries, police escort and status as ministers,” Mr Singh told reporters after the meeting. The AAP said Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghayala, Nagaland and Punjab have MLAs holding such offices.

Mr Singh claimed these posts “clearly” come under the purview of office of profit which merits their disqualification as MLAs. Party units in those states have made similar complaints to the respective chief electoral officers there.