Delhi assembly bans Aam Aadmi Party leader Alka Lamba

Former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Alka Lamba was on Thursday disqualified from the Delhi Assembly on grounds of defection. Lamba was an elected member of the Delhi Assembly from Chandni Chowk. She was disqualified by Speaker Ram Niwas Goel following a petition by AAP legislator Saurabh Bharadwaj.

The step has been taken after Lamba re-joined the Congress on September 6. Consequently, the Chandni Chowk Assembly constituency has fallen vacant, said an order. Earlier, four other MLAs were disqualified on similar grounds.

Lamba had rejoined the Congress after almost six years. She had quit the Congress in 2013 to join the AAP and won the Chandani Chowk seat in 2015. However, Lamba had been at loggerhead with the AAP leaders since December 2018 when she objected to a decision to pass a resolution in the Delhi Assembly seeking revocation of Rajiv Gandhi's Bharat Ratna.

After the AAP's massive defeat in the Lok Sabha poll, she even sought accountability from its national convener. Later, she was removed from the party's official WhatsApp group of the MLAs. She took the primary membership of the party at the residence of Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi. After joining the Congress, she had said, "I have rejoined the party after six years. I always had respect for the party. Now I will work for the betterment of the people while remaining in Congress."