Office of profit row: Kejriwal’s fate hangs with President of India

The Election Commission of India recommended the disqualification of 20 AAP MLAs in an office of profit case. The question is what is next?

The matter will now be taken up to the President of India. He will need to give his consent to the ECI order following which it would become final.

If the President gives his consent then by-elections will have to be held in all the 20 seats.

However the Kejriwal government in Delhi will not have any immediate threat. The Delhi assembly has 70 seats. Even after the disqualification the number of its MLAs would remain 46, which is still a majority in the house. The AAP at present has 66 MLAs including the Speaker while the other four are from the BJP.

The EC's recommendation is with regard to the "office of profit" case where weeks after the AAP won a majority in the Delhi assembly elections, the government appointed the legislators as parliament secretaries in March, 2015.

Reacting to the EC's recommendation, media advisor to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Nagender Sharma, said, "It is a recommendation made without hearing the arguments of MLAs on the false allegation of office of profit."

OneIndia News