Courts only hope for disqualified AAP MLAs: Legal experts

NEW DELHI: The courts are now the only hope for the 20 AAP MLAs disqualified for holding offices of profit, with legal experts saying that unless they get a reprieve from the judiciary, bypolls in Delhi are imminent.

The AAP MLAs, who have been disqualified as Delhi Assembly legislators for occupying the post of parliamentary secretaries, today withdrew their pleas from the Delhi High Court challenging the Election Commission's recommendation which the President had endorsed.

The 20 MLAs told the High Court that they would move fresh petitions as their pleas had become infructuous after President Ram Nath Kovind put a stamp of approval on the EC's recommendation.


Legal experts and a former chief election commissioner, on condition of anonymity, said bypolls in Delhi were imminent unless the courts provide relief to the MLAs in the form of a stay, or strike down the notification disqualifying them.

"Now that the president has signed the notification, the MLAs stand disqualified. If they are able to convince the courts that their disqualification is against the law, only then they can hope for a reprieve," said a legal expert, who has handled several such cases in the past.

If the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) fails to get a reprieve from the Delhi High Court, where it plans to move a fresh plea tomorrow, it can approach the Supreme Court.

The Delhi Assembly Speaker will have to notify the 20 vacancies for the EC to announce the bypolls.

The EC had on Friday recommended to Kovind that the 20 MLAs were liable for disqualification for holding offices of profit between March 13, 2015, and September 8, 2016.