AAP MLA's disqualification row: Election Commission acting as BJP's agent, says Sanjay Singh

Lucknow: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh on Saturday accused prime minister Narendra Modi and his government of trying to “murder democracy” and alleged that the Election Commission (ECI) had taken a unilateral and biased decision to recommend disqualification 20 AAP legislators. Addressing a press conference in the state capital, he said that the party would knock on the doors of the court against this “unjust decision”. [caption id=“attachment_3364588” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of AAP leader Sanjay Singh. Image courtesy: Facebook[/caption] Singh, who is Rajya Sabha member from the party, said the decision of the poll panel was one-sided as the appointment letter given to 20 lawmakers of the AAP specifically said that the office of the parliamentary secretary was not an office of profit. “In 2006, the Sheila Dixit-led Congress government had given office of profit to 19 party legislators, Haryana has four parliamentary secretaries, Punjab also has such an office, Himachal Pradesh has 11 such offices and similar is the case in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh,” Singh claimed. He also pointed out that the High Court had quashed the appointments and did not cancel membership of any legislator. “EC is acting as a poll agent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP),” he said. If resignation of anybody should be sought in this case, it should be that of the prime minister, under whose tenure as Gujarat chief minister, parliamentary secretaries were appointed and they were given the status of deputy ministers and all facilities and perks were given to them, Singh said. He also slammed the Congress for demanding Arvind Kejriwal’s resignation and said that the party would cite the examples of other states in the court while voicing its opinion and protest on the matter.