Election Commission to 21 AAP legislators: Reply to notice by May 10

The Election Commission has directed 21 AAP legislators, who were appointed as parliamentary secretaries by the AAP government last year, to file their replies by May 10 in response to a show-cause notice on why they should not be disqualified for occupying offices of profit in violation of the Constitution.

The notices were issued to the legislators following a petition by Delhi-based advocate Prashant Patel, seeking their disqualification for holding offices of profit in violation of the law.

A source said that the EC has asked the 21 legislators to file their replies by May 10. It is learnt that the legislators had sought six weeks time to file their replies. Apart from two women MLAs, including Chandni Chowk and Rohtas Nagar legislators Alka Lamba and Sarita Singh respectively, the list includes prominent legislators such Adarsh Shastri from Dwarka, Jarnail Singh from Rajouri Garden and another Jarnail Singh from Tilak Nagar.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had appointed 21 members of the Delhi Legislature Assembly as parliamentary secretaries to ministers for “smooth functioning” of the government on March 14, 2015. The move was severely criticised not only by the BJP, but by the Congress as well.