The Election Commission on Tuesday dismissed an application moved by the Aam Aadmi Party’s legislators seeking to call witnesses to a hearing in connection with the office-of-profit charges against them.
The Commission, in its 42-page order, said the plea for “calling witnesses to show that they did not participate in meetings in their capacity as parliamentary secretaries may not be permissible when the documents record their presence as parliamentary secretaries.
“Moreover, where the applicants participated in the affairs of Assembly Constituencies other than their own, taking oral evidence for interpreting these documents to imply that they only participated in their capacity as MLAs is not only outside the scope of the document, but is leading to an absurdity of its own,” said the EC.
The Commission said that no cogent reason had been given by the applicants for calling any of the witnesses.
“The documents mentioned in the application are all self-explanatory when read in conjunction with other related documents available on record... therefore there is no reason to call witnesses to give evidence on the same,” it said.
As far as proving the non-receipt of benefits was concerned, the EC said it was not the actual receipt, but the potential that was to be seen in the ongoing inquiry.
The EC said notwithstanding the direction to file the application at least three days in advance, it was furnished only a day prior to the date fixed for hearing.
It also pointed out that the application did not have specific names of the proposed witnesses. “The omission of names and details of the witnesses makes it impossible to issue summons and this application deserves to be rejected on this very ground,” the EC said in its order.
AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said the MLAs would explore legal options, including moving the Delhi High Court.
“Right from day one, the Election Commission has been biased and has not followed the principles of natural justice,” Mr. Bharadwaj said. “The ECI had declared our MLAs as disqualified, but the High Court had restored their membership. Now also, the ECI seems to have made up its mind to disqualify the MLAs by hook or by crook,” he said.
