The Election Commission (EC) has rejected pleas of 21 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators, who were appointed Parliamentary Secretaries, to drop the "office of profit" case against them. The move of the Commission is considered a major setback for the party.
Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken on Saturday demanded the resignation of all the 20 MlAs of Aam Aadmi Party, who were appointed as Parliamentary Secretaries.
However, Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari welcomed the decision of the commission's order rejecting 21 AAP legislators' plea to drop the office-of-profit case against them and said they have no moral right to continue as lawmakers.
Since the AAP MlAs held de facto posts of Parliamentary Secretaries from March 13, 2015, to September 8, 2016, the proceedings on the question of their disqualification will continue, the EC said in its order on Friday.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said it respected the EC order but hinted that the option of legal remedy was available to the ruling party.
The 21 AAP legislators had approached the poll panel to drop the disqualification case as their appointments had already been set aside by the Delhi High Court on September 8, 2016. Out of these 21 legislators, Jarnail Singh had resigned from the Rajouri Garden seat in January to contest the Punjab Assembly elections.
AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj on Saturday said the party respects the High Court's and Election Commission's orders.
"We have options (to the party) to challenge this EC order. The EC's order should not be misinterpreted. The High Court had declared the very order of appointment of 21 Parliamentary Secretaries as null and void. Therefore there was no question of hearing a petition for the office which never existed," Bharadwaj said.
"Arvind Kejriwal had appointed them as Parliamentary Secretaries to facilitate them with perks and other facilities such as Car, plush office space, staff etc which a Minister receives.
"We hope the Election Commission will give its final decision on this matter very soon because this case has been pending for the last 14 months and it looks like delay in justice," he said.
Meanwhile, Vijender Gupta leader of opposition in Delhi assembly said that the AAP party has been exposed.
"AAP had been giving various arguments during last two years as part of their strategy to defeat the very purpose of filling petition on the issue. The verdict needs to be delivered as early as possible since the concerned AAP MlAs are still enjoying the benefits and powers and the public is unhappy with this state of affairs," he said.
Gupta also demanded that the election commission should now proceed to deliver their verdict as hearing in the matter had already been completed on 27th March and judgment kept reserved.