Not first time for Centre & AAP government to be at loggerheads

Soon after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government came to power in 2015, it ran into a controversy facing disqualification of its 20 MLAs for holding “office of profit”. However, the Delhi High Court last month cleared its stance on the matter reinstating all the 20 legislators

The MLAs were disqualified on the Election Commission’s recommendation. The legislators were appointed as Parliamentary Secretaries to ministers in the AAP government. In September 2016, the court had ruled against this appointment. However, in March this year, the high court ruled that the EC’s recommendation was “bad in law” and that the legislators be reinstated.

The 20 MLAs included party spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj and Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot, among others. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had called the court decision of setting aside the MLA disqualification as “victory of truth”. All these MLAs were later allowed to participate in the Budget session in the Delhi Assembly.  

The HC in its order has stated that the EC’s recommendation had violated the principles of natural justice.