November 21, 2024

The Election Commission has recommended to the President that the 20 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs in Delhi, who were appointed as parliamentary secretaries, be disqualified as members of the legislative assembly for holding an office of profit in contravention of electoral laws. The President is likely to give his assent to this if the matter is not kept pending in the courts before that. The AAP MLAs have already approached the Delhi HC to quash the EC recommendation, but the court has not allowed them any interim relief, opting to query the EC on the issue and posting the case for hearing on Monday, January 22.

AAP has immediately alleged that the EC is acting as a stooge of the government but for once, the Congress has chosen to support the Election Commission. Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken said that Kejriwal has lost the right to continue to rule Delhi. Obviously, the disqualifications will entail bypolls in these 20 constituencies and both the BJP and the Congress fancy their chances if that happens. But should it really worry AAP? In a house of 70, it has a brute majority of 66. But it is worried as if all the 20 seats go to the BJP and the new equation reads 50:24, given the rumblings of dissent against Kejriwal and emergence of coteries around Kumar Vishwas and Ashutosh post the fiasco of RS nominations, it will become difficult to keep the flock together, especially as Amit Shah and Modi are masters of manipulation.

The AAP can blame no one but Kejriwal for the mess it finds itself in. In order to keep the flock together and suppress dissent, he created the extra-constitutional posts of “parliamentary secretaries” and rewarded 21 MLAs (out of which Jarnail Singh resigned to fight the Punjab elections against Badal) by appointing them to that post. The post was an ill-concealed attempt to create an unconstitutional post with lucrative perks for dissenters in the party. It was promptly shot down by the Lieutenant Governor and the Delhi HC refused to stay the LGs order. The decks were then cleared for the EC to disqualify these MLAs. The present recommendation by the EC is just a culmination of those events.

Instead of taking out his ire on the EC, Arvind Kejriwal would do well to reflect on where he has brought AAP and how. He has alienated his mentor Anna Hazare to such an extent that recently, when he expressed a wish to start agitating for a Jan Lokpal again, Hazare said that he hoped no Kejriwal ever again emerged from his agitation. He has alienated fellow travelers against corruption like Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav and thrown them out of the party. He is now in the process of alienating several others, including Kumar Vishwas and Ashutosh. Despite agitating for the central government to appoint Lokpal, he has failed to do so in Delhi. Despite promising a party with a difference, he has allowed the ‘cesspool’ of politics to mould him negatively. This has happened because of his massive megalomania and the desire to control everything. He has been the fastest learners of all shady tricks that politicians use to stay in power and fool the people. Despite having nothing in common with leaders like Mamata Banerjee, he has gained their confidence because of their mutual hatred for Narendra Modi and the BJP. But Kejriwal must realize that if he controls the buck, the buck also stops at his table. He is solely responsible for what AAP is today – a party of the utterly corrupt and power-seeking individuals who do not see beyond their own nose.