The Election Commission (EC) on Friday deferred the hearing on a petition seeking disqualification of 21 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs on office-of-profit charge, after the legislators sought time to study the recent Delhi High Court judgment that set aside their appointment as parliamentary secretaries.
The MLAs are expected to file their reply on October 7, following which petitioner Prashant Patel will submit his counter-reply a week later.
“We want to study the High Court judgment, so we have sought time from the EC,” said Alka Lamba, AAP’s Chandani Chowk MLA.
On September 8, the High Court had set aside the appointment of 21 AAP MLAs as parliamentary secretaries. The court had said that the appointment order was given without the concurrence of the Lieutenant Governor.
Mr. Patel said the court order had no bearing on the EC and added that this was a “ploy” of the legislators to delay the matter.
“We need the copy of details shared by the Delhi government in the matter related to parliamentary secretaries... we need time,” said AAP’s Mundka MLA Sukhbir Singh Dalal.
