Request was made after EC recommended 20 AAP MLAs be disqualified for functioning as parliamentary secretaries
A day after the Election Commission (EC) recommended disqualification of 20 AAP MLAs for holding 'Office of Profit', the party claimed on Saturday that it was being "victimised". The case of disqualification of the AAP MLAs is up for hearing at the Delhi High Court on Monday.
"It is an undemocratic step. They are taking revenge from people of Delhi, the government and the Chief Minister of Delhi. We will go to all democratic fora seeking justice," said AAP Delhi convener Gopal Rai.
The AAP leader further said the appointment of parliamentary secretaries had come up in various other states including Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Rajasthan, but only AAP was "being targeted".
"This is double standards. Doesn't the Constitution apply to all? We are being victimised. It is worse than the British Raj," he said.
According to sources, the Commission said the party MLAs, by occupying the post of parliamentary secretaries between March 13, 2015 and September 8, 2016, held offices of profit, and were liable to be disqualified as legislators.
Rai said the issue was not "merely that of parliamentary secretaries" but the very "credibility" of democratic institutions, which he alleged was "being compromised".
The AAP leader also announced that a state-level meeting would be convened at its office here on Sunday to chalk out a plan for launching a mass agitation against the ongoing sealing drive in the city and the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
"We will take to the streets in large numbers for the traders, who are being harassed, first through demonetization, then GST implementation and now the sealing drive," Rai added.
Echoing the same sentiments, Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday alleged that the AAP was not given an opportunity by the Election Commission to explain its stand in the office of profit case.
"There was no hearing, we were not given a chance to explain our stand. We appeal to the President to hear our view too, and (the) MLAs will meet (the) President also," he said.
Crying foul
- AAP leader Gopal Rai said the appointment of parliamentary secretaries had come up in various other states, but only AAP was “being targeted”
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