While the Election Commission is yet to give its opinion on the fate of 21 legislators who had allegedly used office of profit by holding posts of parliamentary secretaries in the AAP government, the
While the Election Commission is yet to give its opinion on the fate of 21 legislators who had allegedly used office of profit by holding posts of parliamentary secretaries in the AAP government, the Delhi Congress is all set to seek disqualification of another AAP MLA on similar charges for holding the post of the chairman in the State Haj Committee. The Congress is likely to petition President Pranab Mukherjee seeking disqualification of Seelampur MLA Haji Ishraque on the ground that as the head of the Haj Committee, he was holding the office of profit in violation of rules.
Since the EC has asked the 21 parliamentary secretaries to file their replies on the intervention petitions of the Congress and the AAP government by July 8, reports suggest that all these MLAs have approached top end lawyers like Ram Jethmalani, Harish Salve, Rajeev Dhawan, Gopal Subramanium and Indira Jaisingh to appear on their behalf before the election poll panel on July 14. There are indications that the Congress side of the story before EC will either be presented by Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal or party spokesperson Abisheikh Manu Singhvi.
Once all the parliamentary secretaries are heard in person by the poll panel, it will then send its opinion on the contentious issue to the President, who will decide whether the legislators can continue or face disqualification. Political pundits are debating that in case the AAP legislators are disqualified, it may change the political discourse in the city. “Once disqualified, the EC will be bound to hold byelections in all these seats. And if the AAP is unable to retain a large chunk of these seats, it will be the beginning of the decline of AAP in Delhi,” Congress leader Chattar Singh said.
Insiders in the AAP said if the President disqualifies its legislators, the party will approach the apex court. The AAP contention is that though the government had appointed legislators as parliamentary secretaries, the legislators had not been provided with any office space nor any remuneration.
