New Delhi, January 21: In a  big blow to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi, President of India Ram Nath Kovind has approved the recommendation of Election Commission of India (ECI) to disqualify 20 AAP MLAs in connection with Office Of Profit case.  The Election Commission on Friday, had asked the President to disqualify 20 of its MLAs for holding offices of profit, setting the stage for their ouster from the Delhi assembly. Soon after the recommendations of the Election Commission, the AAP MLAs moved the Delhi High Court on Friday evening. However, Justice Rekha Palli refused to pass any interim order.

The President's assent on Sunday of disqualification of the legislators has now paved the way for bye-elections in Delhi.  Alka Lamba, one of the 20 disqualified AAP MLAs was quoted by ANI saying, "Unfortunate that the President took the decision in such haste, without giving us chance to speak. It's an act of Centre using constitutional institutions. We've trust on judiciary. Doors of HC & SC is open for us". Meanwhile, BJP's Meenakshi Lekhi said, "The fact that their RS nomination happened means EC was working at its own pace & there was no pressure that Arvind Kejriwal seems to have alleged.These are constitutional bodies whose mandate is to obey law".

According to a notification issued by the Law Ministry, the President said that in the light of the opinion expressed by the Election Commission (EC), the 20 members of the Delhi legislative assembly have been disqualified.  ”...Having considered the matter in the light of the opinion expressed by the Election Commission, I, Ram Nath Kovind, president of India, in exercise of the powers...do here hold that the aforesaid 20 members of the Delhi legislative assembly stand disqualified from being members of the said assembly,” the notification said.

The Election Commission in its opinion sent to President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday said that the 20 AAP MLAs, by occupying the post of parliamentary secretaries between March 13, 2015 and September 8, 2016, held office of profit, and were liable to be disqualified as legislators.

Here's the list of 20 disqualified AAP MLAs:

Sr. No. Name of the Member Party
1.  Praveen Kumar AAP
2.  Sharad Kumar AAP
3.  Adarsh Shastri AAP
4.  Madan Lal AAP
5. Shiv Charan Goel AAP
6.  Sanjeev Jha AAP
7.  Sarita Singh AAP
8.  Naresh Yadav AAP
9.  Rajesh Gupta AAP
10.  Rajesh Rishi AAP
11. Anil Kumar Bajpai AAP
12. Som Dutt AAP
13. Avtar Singh Kalka AAP
14.  Vijender Garg Vijay AAP
15.  Jarnail Singh (Rajauri Garden) AAP
16.  Kailash Gahlot AAP
17.  Alka Lamba AAP
18.  Manoj Kumar AAP
19.  Nitin Tyagi AAP
20.  Sukhvir Singh AAP

The 20 MLAs that have been disqualified are Adarsh Shastri (Dwarka), Alka Lamba (Chandni Chowk), Anil Bajpai (Gandhi Nagar), Avtar Singh (Kalkaji), Kailash Gahlot (Najafgarh) -- who is also a minister -- Madan Lal (Kasturba Nagar), Manoj Kumar (Kondli), Naresh Yadav (Mehrauli), Nitin Tyagi (Laxmi Nagar), Praveen Kumar (Jangpura), Rajesh Gupta (Wazirpur), Rajesh Rishi ( Janakpuri), Sanjeev Jha (Burari), Sarita Singh (Rohtas Nagar), Som Dutt (Sadar Bazar), Sharad Kumar (Narela), Shiv Charan Goel (Moti Nagar), Sukhbir Singh (Mundka), Vijendar Garg (Rajinder Nagar) and Jarnail Singh (Tilak Nagar).

In 2015 Assembly Elections, AAP won with a thumping majority with 67 seats, leaving only 3 seats for BJP  in the 70-member assembly. However, in 2017 bypolls, BJP's Manjinder Singh Sirsa won the Rajouri Garden seat, reducing AAP's seat to 66.  With the disqualification of these 20 MLAs, the number of AAP MLAs in the Delhi Assembly will go down to 46.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 21, 2018 03:51 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).