New Delhi, Jan 24: Although the Delhi High Court refrained from passing any interim order on Centre's notification disqualifying the 20 legislators of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), it ordered the Election Commission to make no bypoll announcement till the next hearing scheduled on Monday.

The bench led by Justice Vibhu Bakhru, while hearing the petition of 20 ousted MLAs of AAP, asked the EC to file its reply in the matter by February 6. The petitioners have accused the poll body of acting in a "biased manner" and denying them a fair hearing before deciding on their disqualification.

"Respondent number 1 (the EC) has acted contrary to the principles of natural justice by wilfully depriving the petitioners to submit oral submissions," stated the petition filed by the AAP MLAs through their counsel  Manish Vashist.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) O P Rawat, while speaking to reporters earlier in the week, refuted the allegations levelled by AAP. Rawat said the MLAs were sent two notices by the Commission -- on September 28 and November 2 last year -- but they did not reply.

The 20 legislators faced the axe last week after the Union Law Ministry, based upon the EC's recommendation, sent a notification to the President seeking their disqualification.

President Ram Nath Kovind approved the notification on Sunday.

AAP was quick to condemn the President's decision, accusing him of undermining the principles of a democracy. "The President could not have shown the minimum constitutional propriety by meeting the MLAs before acting on the EC advice," said senior party leader Sanjay Singh.

The 20 disqualified AAP MLAs include Alka Lamba, Adarsh Shastri, Sanjeev Jha, Rajesh Gupta, Kailash Gehlot, Vijendra Garg, Praveen Kumar, Sharad Kumar, Madan Lal Khufiya, Shiv Charan Goyal, Sarita Singh, Naresh Yadav, Rajesh Rishi, Anil Kumar, Som Dutt, Avtar Singh, Sukhvir Singh Dala, Manoj Kumar and Nitin Tyagi.

They were appointed as parliamentary secretaries shortly after AAP won the Delhi assembly polls of 2015 with a thumping majority.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 24, 2018 03:58 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).