Aam Admi Party (AAP) on Friday approached the Election Commission demanding termination of membership of two ministers in Madhya Pradesh cabinet- Paras Jain and Deepak Joshi, as they are holding office of profit despite being members of the State assembly.
In this regard, State convenor of the party and State secretary of the party Akshay Hunka along with other party activists reached the office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) SS Bansal at his office and lodged a complaint. They demanded that the whole issue be investigated properly and if these two ministers are found guilty of possessing office of profit, their membership from the State assembly should be terminated.
Notably, Paras Jain is BJP’s legislator from Ujjain, while Deepak Joshi represents Haat Pipliya (Dewas district). While lodging complaint, the AAP leaders stated that Jain is holding post of Chief Commissioner in Scouts and Guides, while Joshi is vice-chairman in the same institution. Since, both of these positions come under office of profit categories, their membership from the assembly should be terminated, they added.
The CEO SS Bansal told media persons and the AAP leaders that he has forwarded the complaint to the Election Commission of India in New Delhi for further action. Bansal further said that this is the first such case in Madhya Pradesh related to MlAs possessing office of profit.
Notably, the office of profit issue came to fore recently, after 21 legislators of AAP in Delhi State have come under the purview of office of profit by being parliamentary secretaries.