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Office-of-Profit case: EC to begin final hearing against 20 AAP MLAs tomorrow

Office-of-Profit case: EC to begin final hearing against 20 AAP MLAs tomorrow

AAP MLAs

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On July 17, the poll body had dismissed their application for the cross-examination of the petitioner, who sought their disqualification, to prove that they were not holding any office-of-profit.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday fixed July 23for hearing the final arguments in the matter of disqualification of 20 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs in the Office-of-Profit case.

The hearing will begin at 3 pm on Monday.

20 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs on Sunday moved Delhi High Court challenging Election Commission of India’s (ECI) order in Office-of-Profit case.

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On July 17, the poll body had dismissed their application for the cross-examination of the petitioner, who sought their disqualification, to prove that they were not holding any office-of-profit.

In its 70-page order, the poll panel said, "There is no occasion and need for the cross-examination of the petitioner as he is not a witness in the present proceedings and the respondents have failed to make out a case for calling any witness as pleaded in their applications. Therefore, this Commission dismisses the applications under consideration."

The Commission has further stated that the factual matrix which the poll body and High Court has taken cognisance of is drawn on the basis of information which it recieved from the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNTCD).

The Delhi AAP lawmakers had moved the plea on May 16 for cross-examination of petitioner Prashant Patel, and officials of the assembly and city government to prove that they were not holding any office-of-profit by being appointed as parliamentary secretaries.

Earlier in January this year, the EC had recommended the disqualification of 20 AAP MLAs – Alka Lamba, Adarsh Shastri, Sanjeev Jha, Rajesh Gupta, Kailash Gahlot, Vijendra Garg, Praveen Kumar, Sharad Kumar, Madan Lal, 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.