Delhi MLAs Office of Profit Row: EC to Begin Final Hearing on Monday

New Delhi, July 22: The Election Commission (EC) will begin final hearing in the Delhi MLAs Office of Profit case on Monday at 3 pm. On January 19, the Election Commission had recommened the disqualification of 20 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs from Delhi, accusing them of holding offices of profit. The EC had issued show cause notices to 27 AAP MLAs in 2016. All the MLAs, according to the EC, held offices as parliamentary secretaries, after a petition was filed seeking their disqualification.

On March 23, the Delhi High Court had pronounced its verdict in the disqualification of 20 Aam Aadmi Party MLAs for holding office of profit. After the HC verdict, the Election Commission (EC) had said that it would consider each MLAs case based on merit. A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Chander Shekhar had reserved its decision since February 28, after the legislators, EC and other parties had concluded their arguments.

On January 30, the High Court had asked the Election Commission (EC) to state the facts behind its decision to disqualify the 20 AAP MLAs for holding the office of profit by filing an affidavit.The bench had asked the poll panel to file the affidavit after the EC said it wanted to respond to some of the allegations made in the MLAs' pleas challenging their disqualification from the Delhi assembly.

A bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Chander Shekhar had observed that the Election Commission's recommendation against the legislators was "bad in law" and "vitiated". All eyes will be on the Election Commission tomorrow, as it begins the final hearing in the Delhi MLAs Office of Profit case on Monday.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 22, 2018 05:27 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).