Delhi HC denies interim relief to 20 AAP MLAs in office of profit case

New Delhi: In a major blow to the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi, the Election Commission (EC) on Friday recommended disqualification of 20 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs for holding 'office of profit,' according to media reports.

The recommendation has been sent to the President Ram Nath Kovind for his nod.

The President is bound to go by the recommendation of the Commission. In cases where petitions are made seeking disqualification of lawmakers, the President sends a reference to the EC which decides on the case by sending back its opinion.

Following the shocking move, AAP approached the Delhi High Court against EC's recommendation to disqualify its MLAs but the court refused to grant interim relief to the party's legislators. 

In the present case, the petition was made to disqualify 21 MLAs, but one had resigned a few months back. 

The EC, however, said that the disqualification is sub-judice, and it will not comment on what recommendation has been given to the President.

A petition filed by lawyer Prashant Patel sought the disqualification of the MLAs on the grounds that they were holding an 'office of profit' as parliamentary secretaries.

In 2015, soon after AAP swept the Delhi elections, Kejriwal had appointed 21 legislators as parliamentary secretaries. 

This disqualification will lead to by-polls in Delhi.

Also read: BJP mocks AAP: Kejriwal govt gone from 'India against Corruption' to 'I am corruption'

The ruling AAP has a massive majority in the Delhi Assembly with 67 out of 70 seats. 

This disqualification will not meddle with AAP's position in the assembly, but is definitely a serious setback for the party.

The MLAs' pleas that the case against them be dropped were rejected by the EC in June 2017.

Both Congress and BJP had been pushing the EC to order the disqualification.

Here's the list of disqualified 20 AAP MLAs:

1. Praveen Kumar (Jangpura) was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to Education Minister
2. Sharad Kumar (Narela) was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to Revenue Minister
3. Adarsh Shastri (Dwarka) was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to Information and Technology Minister
4. Madan Lal (Kasturba Nagar) was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to Vigilance Minister
5. Shiv Charan Goel (Moti Nagar) was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to Finance Minister
6. Sanjeev Jha (Burari) was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to Transport Minister
7. Sarita Singh (Rohtas Nagar) was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to Employment Minister
8. Naresh Yadav (Mehrauli) was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to Labour Minister
9. Rajesh Gupta (Wazirpur) was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to Health Minister
10. Rajesh Rishi (Janakpuri) was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to Health Minister
11. Anil Kumar Bajpai (Gandhi Nagar) was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to Health Minister
12. Som Dutt (Sadar Bazar) was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to Industries Minister
13. Avtar Singh (Kalkaji) as Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Gurudwara elections
14. Vijender Garg (Rajinder Nagar) was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of PWD
15. Jarnail Singh (Rajouri Garden) was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Power
16. Kailash Gahlot (Najafgarh) was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Law
17. Alka Lamba (Chandni Chowk) was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Tourism
18. Manoj Kumar (Kondli) was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Food and Civil Supplies
19. Nitin Tyagi (Laxmi Nagar) was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Women and Child and Social Welfare
20. Sukhvir Singh (Mundka) was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Languages and Welfare of SC/ST/OBC respectively.