20 Indian MLAs from Delhi disqualified by EC for holding office of profit
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NEW DELHI: Indian President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday accepted the Election Commission's recommendation to disqualify 20 MLAs of Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for holding offices of profit.
"Having considered the matter in the light of the opinion expressed by the Election Commission, I, Ram Nath Kovind, President of India, in the exercise of the powers. Do here hold that the aforesaid 20 members of the Delhi legislative Assembly stand disqualified from being members of the said Assembly," a notification issued by the Law Ministry quoted the President as saying.
The 20 MLAs include, Adarsh Shastri (Dwarka), Alka Lamba (Chandni Chowk), Anil Bajpai (Gandhi Nagar), Avtar Singh (Kalkaji), Kailash Gahlot (Najafgarh) - who is also a minister - Madan Lal (Kasturba Nagar), Manoj Kumar (Kondli), Naresh Yadav (Mehrauli), Nitin Tyagi (Laxmi Nagar), Praveen Kumar (Jangpura), Rajesh Gupta (Wazirpur), Rajesh Rishi Janakpuri), Sanjeev Jha (Burari), Sarita Singh (Rohtas Nagar), Som Dutt (Sadar Bazar), Sharad Kumar (Narela), Shiv Charan Goel (Moti Nagar), Sukhbir Singh (Mundka), Vijendar Garg (Rajinder Nagar) and Jarnail Singh (Tilak Nagar).
Reacting to the development, Delhi Minister, Gopal Rai, said, "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 be."
In its opinion sent to President Kovind, the EC had disqualified 20 MLA for holding office of profit between March 13, 2015, and September 8, 2016, held offices of profit and were liable to be disqualified as legislators, PTI had quoted sources as saying.
The petition before the ECI was filed by one Prashant Patel against 21 MLAs who were appointed as parliamentary secretaries by the AAP government in Delhi.
