The President has held Aam Aadmi Party MLA Surender Singh is not disqualified in a case of alleged office of profit for being a member of the New Delhi Municipal Council, according to the December 31, 2019 order published by the Election Commission of India on Thursday.
Mr. Singh, AAP MLA from the Delhi Cantonment Assembly constituency, was found not to holding an office of profit by being a member of the NDMC, according to the ECI’s opinion on September 16, 2019 that President Ram Nath Kovind had agreed with in his December 31 order.
“The Election Commission held that as per Section 4 of the NDMC Act, 1994, there is a statutory mandate to appoint two such MLAs to NDMC who have been elected to the Delhi Legislative Assembly from an Assembly Constituency which falls wholly or partly in the NDMC area. Hence, Shri Suremder Singh, MLA, did not incur disqualification,” the ECI’s opinion read.
The petition, filed by Sanjeev Kumar Rajput on August 13, 2018 and referred by the President to the ECI on November 15, 2019, alleged Mr. Singh held an office of profit as he had been allotted a furnished house (Flat 13, Type V, Yashwant Place Market) in Chanakyapuri and an office at the NDMC headquarters, Palika Kendra, the order said. The order cited the ECI’s opinion, which said a bare reading of the NDMC Act showed that it was a statutory mandate to appoint two MLAs whose constituencies fall partly or wholly in the NDMC area as members.
In its opinion, the ECI cited previous complaints against then-Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and then-BJP MLA Karan Singh Tanwar, a nominated member of the NDMC currently, where it had on February 2, 2012 held that the two MLAs did not attract disqualification for being NDMC members.
Incidentally, Mr. Singh has been dropped by the AAP from its list of candidates for the Delhi Assembly elections to be held on February 8.