Delhi High Court to hear Aam Aadmi Party's appeal challenging EC's move to 'disqualify 20 AAP MLAs' today

The Delhi High Court on Monday will hear the Aam Aadmi Party’s plea against the Election Commission’s (EC) recommendation to disqualify 20 of its legislators for allegedly holding offices of profit, said media reports. The court will hear AAP’s appeal against the EC’s move at 4 pm. If the court rejects the appeal, AAP will move the Supreme Court, said this  NDTV report. The legislators had moved the Delhi High Court on Friday against the Election Commission’s recommendation. However, the 20 MLAs did not get interim relief and the court posted the matter for Monday. The petition before the Election Commission was filed by one Prashant Patel against 21 MLAs who were appointed as parliamentary secretaries by the AAP government in Delhi. [caption id=“attachment_4309425” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Delhi High Court. PTI[/caption] In a big blow to Delhi’s ruling AAP, President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday approved the Election Commission’s recommendation to disqualify 20 of its MLAs. While the BJP hailed the move, the AAP said it would approach the courts against it. The AAP described Kovind’s order disqualifying 20 of its MLAs as “unconstitutional” and “dangerous for democracy”. Madanlal, one of the 20 disqualified MLAs, on Sunday said that all hopes hinge upon the judiciary and the party was expecting some relief on Monday. Reacting to the development, senior AAP leader Ashutosh said, “President’s order to disqualify AAP MLAs is unconstitutional and dangerous for democracy.” Alka Lamba, who is among the 20 AAP MLAs disqualified, said the decision was “painful” and the president should have heard them out before arriving at any conclusion. Following the President’s approval, the Union Law and Justice Ministry issued a notification saying that the President held that the 20 members of the Delhi Legislative Assembly stand disqualified under 15 (1) (a) of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) Act. The 20 MLAs are 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, Nitin Tyagi and Jarnail Singh. _Click here to follow live updates on AAP MLAs office of profit case_ With inputs from agencies