Office-of-profit case: Delhi HC restores membership of 20 disqualified AAP MLAs, refers case back to EC

NEW DELHI: In a big victory for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Delhi high courtroom as of late restored membership of its 20 disqualified MLAs and referred the case back to the Election Commission (EC).

The HC mentioned the disqualification of AAP MLAs used to be unhealthy in regulation, and subsequently remanded their plea back to the EC which can hear it afresh. The courtroom additional mentioned there used to be a violation of natural justice and no oral listening to used to be given to the AAP MLAs earlier than disqualifying them as legislators.

On January 19, the EC really useful the AAP MLAs be disqualified for holding places of work of cash in. Two days later, President Ram Nath Kovind licensed the disqualification. The EC used to be regarding the fact the MLAs were appointed parliamentary secretaries to ministers within the Delhi executive in March 2015.

सत्य की जीत हुई। दिल्ली के लोगों द्वारा चुने हुए प्रतिनिधियों को ग़लत तरीक़े से बर्खास्त किया गया था। दिल्ली हाई को… https://t.co/7f4qmw55rF

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) 1521795965000

The MLAs then approached the Delhi high courtroom difficult their disqualification. The MLAs who were axed had been Alka Lamba, Adarsh Shastri, Sanjeev Jha, Rajesh Gupta, Kailash Gehlot, Vijendra Garg, Praveen Kumar, Sharad Kumar, Madan Lal Khufiya, Shiv Charan Goyal, Sarita Singh, Naresh Yadav, Rajesh Rishi, Anil Kumar, Som Dutt, Avtar Singh, Sukhvir Singh Dala, Manoj Kumar and Nitin Tyagi.

A Delhi high courtroom bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Chander Shekhar wrapped up hearings within the case on February 28, and reserved its judgment after the legislators, the EC and different parties had concluded their arguments.

The MLAs had informed the courtroom that the EC’s order disqualifying them used to be passed in “complete violation of natural justice” as they were not given a possibility to give an explanation for their stand earlier than the ballot panel.

In reaction to a query from the bench right through the hearings, the legislators had agreed to have the case sent back to the ballot panel so that the MLAs might be granted an oral listening to.

Backing its advice to the President for AAP MLAs’ disqualification, the ballot panel had submitted that the legislators can not declare that they were not preserving office-of-profit. It had also claimed that those MLAs' pleas were not maintainable and had been vulnerable to be pushed aside.