The Election Commission on Friday posted for August 29 the next date of hearing of a petition seeking disqualification of 21 AAP MlAs for holding office of Parliamentary Secretaries, alleged to be an office of profit.
At Friday’s hearing, five Parliamentary Secretaries requested the ECI that they can’t afford lawyers and need legal help for putting up their case before the election panel. The ECI earlier heard 12 of the 17 AAP lawmakers who appeared before the election panel.
AAP’s Kasturba Nagar MlA Madan lal, who was one of 21 lawmakers appointed as Parliamentary Secretaries, reportedly said some legislators demanded that the ECI arrange a lawyer for them but the Commission declined it on the ground that there was no provision for the same.
“Nitin Tyagi from laxmi Nagar, Jarnail Singh from Tilak Nagar, Jarnail Singh from Rajouri Garden and Rajesh Gupta had urged the ECI to provide them a lawyer as they can’t afford one,” said Madan lal, adding the EC declined the request.
During the hearing, AAP MlAs reiterated that the EC should consider only the first petition filed by Prashant Patel, who moved the plea before the poll body on which the President had sought opinion of the Commission. They said the Commission cannot consider the second set of documents filed by Patel after the President had already sought opinion on the first petition.
They insisted the second set of documents were not maintainable. Patel, however, argued that the second set was not a fresh petition but a response to details sought by the EC. The MlAs were of the view that EC should have sought the details from the Delhi Government and not the petitioner.
The hearing remained inconclusive and was adjourned for August 29. An earlier date of hearing was not possible as the Delhi Assembly is meeting from Monday.
The 21 lawmakers face disqualification from the Delhi Assembly for allegedly holding ‘office of profit’ as Parliamentary Secretaries.
The Delhi Government had sought through a Bill an amendment to the Delhi Members of legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Act, 1997 so as to exclude the post of Parliamentary Secretary from the definition of ‘office of profit’.
However, President Pranab Mukherjee rejected the Bill in July, leaving the fate of 21 Parliamentary Secretaries hanging in balance.
On June 30, the poll panel had written to the Delhi Government asking details about the type of work done by 21 AAP MlAs after their appointment as Parliamentary Secretaries.
In a letter to Delhi Chief Secretary, the EC had also sought information regarding facilities being given to the AAP MlAs in the capacity of Parliamentary Secretaries.