The Arvind Kejriwal government on Tuesday received a major blow after President Pranab Mukherjee refused to give his nod to a bill passed to shield the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) lawmakers. The Delhi government last year had passed a bill to amend the law that bars elected representatives from holding office of profit.
Kejriwal last year appointed 21 members of Delhi Legislative assembly as parliamentary secretaries to the ministers for the “smooth functioning of the government.” The government said that these parliamentary secretaries will not be eligible for any perks or remuneration, which will lead to no extra burden to the taxpayers.
However, on the legal grounds, a legislator holding an office of profit is a violation of the Constitution.
Delhi-based advocate Prashant Patel had moved the Election Commission (EC) last year challenging the AAP government’s move to appoint MLAs as parliamentary secretaries.
In his petition, the advocate had cited a ruling by the Calcutta High Court, in which the court had struck down the 23 parliamentary secretaries to the Bengal Ministry. The court had ruled that “Parliamentary Secretaries are in fact ministers though they function under a different title or nomenclature”.
While rejecting the AAP government’s bill, the President has referred the matter to the EC, which will now take a call on further course of action. Should the EC decides to disqualify 21 MLAs, it will pave for a fresh election in the national capital.
The AAP, presently, has 67 legislators in the 70-member House.
Here is the full list of 21 AAP MLAs who are facing the risk of disqualification:
1) Alka Lamba, parliamentary secretary to minister of Tourism
2) Manoj Kumar, parliamentary secretary to minister of Food and Civil Supplies
3) Nitin Tyagi, parliamentary secretary to minister of Women and Child and Social Welfare
4) Praveen Kumar, parliamentary secretary to minister of Education
5) Adarsh Shastri, parliamentary secretary to minister of Information & Technology
6) Madan Lal, parliamentary secretary to minister of Vigilance
7) Shiv Charan Goel, parliamentary secretary to minister of Finance
8) Sanjeev Jha, parliamentary secretary to minister of Transport
9) Sarita Singh, parliamentary secretary to minister of Employment
10)Naresh Yadav, parliamentary secretary to minister of Labour
11) Jarnail Singh(Tilaknagar), parliamentary secretary to minister of Development
12) Rajesh Gupta, parliamentary secretary to minister of Health
13) Rajesh Rishi, parliamentary secretary to minister of Health
14) Anil Kumar Bajpai, parliamentary secretary to minister of Health
15) Som Dutt, parliamentary secretary to minister of Industries
16) Avtar Singh Kalka, parliamentary secretary to minister of Gurudwara elections
17) Vijender Garg Vijay, parliamentary secretary to minister of PWD
18) Jarnail Singh(Rajauri Garden), parliamentary secretary to minister of Power
19) Kailash Gahlot, parliamentary secretary to minister of Law
20) Sukhvir Singh, parliamentary secretary to minister of Languages & Welfare of SC/ST/OBC
21) Sharad Kumar, parliamentary secretary to minister of Revenue
