The AAP MLAs who had been appointed as the parliamentary secretary in 2015. The election commission has recommended to the president for disqualifying the 20 MLAs, who held the post for profit. The President has limited powers in this scenario where the decision taken by the Election commission is biding.
The president will refer the report to the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Delhi High Cort has rejected the notification issued by the Delhi Government in 2015. The president also rejected the bill in which the AAP MLAs were appointed by the Delhi Government. Since then, this has been a hotly debated topic for all the political parties who have found a way to attack the AAP.
If they are disqualified, AAP would have to fight again in these seat for which poll will be conducted in the six months after the notification. Otherwise, if they get an stay letter from the high court, which seems very unlikely given the previous ruling of the Delhi High Court.
BJP will gain significant margin in the seats if the Delhi Bypolls are conducted given the significant importance of this election in the 2019 General Election. The number of AAP MLAs will be reduced to the 46 seats in the Delhi Assembly.
Lately, in this term of AAP in the Delhi, they have a serious internal political battle going on. Kapil Mishra accused the party citing corruption issues and a vow to fight against Kejriwal. The recent selection of the candidates in the Rajya Sabha, where candidates were selected on the amount of money they have in the bank rather than merit and talent. It proved to be a big opportunity for the other parties to target AAP which say it is a party against corruption.
The AAP
The Drama has already begun with the news of the disqualification of the 20 AAP MLAs, The AAP has blamed the Election Commission of bias and working on the direction of the central government. The state government has found itself in another tough position after so many hiccups last year.
Chief Election Commissioner of the Election commission A.K.Joti is set to retire on the 22nd January. AAP has accused that Joti is repaying to Modi by deciding on the fate of the 20 MLAs. In the Delhi High court, EC argued that the MLAs appointed enjoyed the office for profit, hence there is the case for their disqualification, which led to the quashing of the notification issued by the Delhi government in 2015.
But, the MLAs were appointed in 2015 and remained in the office until 8th September 2016. The case of AAP looks weak in this matter and Role of the president, in this case, is limited. We will see how the AAP prepares itself for the by-poll and the general election 2019. While there have been many incidents happened in the AAP ruling Delhi in their Second term, but what differentiates it, the amount from unwanted media coverage it received due to all the wrong reasons. It remains to be seen about the future of the 20 AAP MLAs.
