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Sunday, January 21, 2018

President Ram Nath Kovind Approves ECI's Recommendation To Disqualify 20 AAP MLAs Sunday Jan 21,2018

Twenty Delhi MLAs of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were disqualified on Sunday Jan 21,2018 with the President of India approving an Election Commission Of India(ECI) recommendation against the lawmakers in the office-of-profit case.
List of 20 AAP MLAs who have been disqualified
S.No.MLAConstituencyMinistry/Department
1 Adarsh Shastri Dwarka I&T
2 Alka Lamba Chandni Chowk Tourism
3 Anil Vajpayee Gandhi Nagar Health
4 Avtar Singh Kalkaji Gurdwara elections
5 Kailash Gehilot Najafgarg Law
6 Madan Lal Kasurba Nagar Vigilance
7 Manoj Kumar Kondli Food and Civil Supplies
8 Naresh Yadav Mehrauli Labour
9 Nitin Tyagi Laxmi Nagar Women and Child and Social Welfare
10 Praveen Kumar Jangpura Education
11 Rajesh Gupta Wazirpur Health
12 Rajesh Rishi Janakpuri Health
13 Sanjeev Jha Burari Transport
14 Sarita Singh Rohtas Nagar Employment
15 Som Dutt Sadar Bazar Industries
16 Sharad Kumar Narela Revenue Ministry
17 Shiv Charan Goel Moti Nagar finance
18 Sukhbir Singh Mundka Languages & Welfare of SC/ST/OBC
19 Vijendar Garg Rajinder Nagar PWD
20 Jarnail Singh Tilak Nagar Development
"...Having considered the matter in the light of the opinion expressed by the Election Commission, I, Ram Nath Kovind, president of India, in 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," read the notification issued by law ministry, quoting the President.

The disqualification will not endanger the Arvind Kejriwal government but its numbers will come down significantly in the 70-seat Delhi Assembly. They would still enjoy a comfortable majority, with 46 out of 50 seats in the pruned House.

The President’s assent also paves the way for by-election in the 20 seats, giving a chance to the BJP and the Congress to increase their tally. While the BJP has four seats in the Delhi Assembly, the Congress has zero.

The AAP was quick to denounce the President's decision, with its leader Ashutosh describing it as unconstitutional and dangerous for the democracy.

What is an 'office of profit'?

If an MLA or an MP holds a government office and receives benefits from it, then that office is termed as an "office of profit

What is OOP

A person will be disqualified if he holds an office of profit under the central or state government, other than an office declared not to disqualify its holder by a law passed by Parliament or state legislature. 



Note

The entire issue came into existence when on March 13, 2015, the Arvind Kejriwal government passed an order appointing 21 MLAs as Parliamentary Secretaries. This was challenged by Advocate Prashant Patel who petitioned President Pranab Mukherjee on June 19, 2015, that these MLAs were now holding ‘office of profit’ and should be disqualified.

The Delhi Legislative Assembly, then passed the Delhi Member of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) ( Amendment Bill ), 2015 excluding Parliamentary Secretaries from “ office of profit’ with retrospective effect.

The issue in front of the Election Commission was whether the office of Parliamentary Secretary in the GNCTD, 1991 constitutes an ‘office of profit’. Article 191 of the Constitution has not defined what is an ‘office of profit’, which has paved the way to the Courts to lay down the law.

The AAP has approached the Delhi High Court seeking a stay on EC's recommendation. The court has listed the case for a hearing on Monday Jan 22,2018

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