EC will continue hearing against 21 AAP MLAs

Despite the Delhi High Court setting aside the appointment of 21 MLAs of Aam Aadmi Party as Parliamentary Secretaries, the Election Commission (EC) on Saturday ruled that it will continue to hear a plea against them for allegedly holding offices of profit. The office of profit petition was filed by Prashant Patel against 21 MLAs of Delhi State Government.

The proceedings were dropped against Jarnail Singh, one of the accused MLAs, after he resigned as the Rajouri Garden MLA to contest the Punjab Assembly polls.

The EC order stated that the commission was of the 'considered opinion' that the MLAs were 'de facto' Parliamentary Secretaries from March 13, 2015 to September 8, 2016.

Reacting to the current scenario, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party said it had all the 'remedies available' to challenge the EC order.

The party mentioned in a statement, "The recent order of the EC should not be misinterpreted. The Delhi High Court had declared the very order of appointment of the 21 Parliamentary Secretaries as null and void. Therefore, there is no question of hearing a petition for an office which never existed as per the high court."

BJP and Congress criticised AAP on this issue.

"If the EC today disqualifies the MLAs and orders fresh polls in these constituencies, we will win all the seats," Manoj Tiwari, Delhi BJP chief, said.