Office-of-profit case: EC to begin final hearing against 20 AAP MLAs today

New Delhi, July 22: Election Commission will begin final hearing in the Office of Profit case, involving 20 MLAs, on Monday at 3 pm.

On July 17, the poll body had dismissed their application for the cross-examination of the petitioner, who sought their disqualification, to prove that they were not holding any office-of-profit.

"There is no occasion and need for cross-examination of the petitioner as he is not a witness in the present proceedings and the respondents have failed to make out a case for calling any witness," the order by the EC read.

The Commission had further stated that the factual matrix which the poll body and High Court has taken cognisance of is drawn on the basis of information which it received from the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNTCD).

In January this year, the EC had recommended the disqualification of 20 AAP MLAs - Alka Lamba, Adarsh Shastri, Sanjeev Jha, Rajesh Gupta, Kailash Gahlot, Vijendra Garg, Praveen Kumar, Sharad Kumar, Madan Lal, Shiv Charan Goyal, Sarita Singh, Naresh Yadav, Rajesh Rishi, Anil Kumar, Som Dutt, Avtar Singh, Sukhvir Singh Dala, Manoj Kumar, Nitin Tyagi and Jarnail Singh.

The move resulted in a reduction of the AAP's strength in the 70-member Delhi Assembly from 66 to 46.

The AAP MLAs, who were appointed parliamentary secretaries, had subsequently challenged their disqualification on grounds of holding office-of-profit.