AAP MLA Sandeep Kumar disqualified from Delhi Assembly

Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel on Tuesday disqualified rebel Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA and former minister Sandeep Kumar under the anti-defection law, an official statement said.

Kumar, who faced the action for supporting the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the Lok Sabha elections, is the fourth legislator of Delhi's ruling party to be disqualified in less than a month.

Earlier, rebel AAP MLAs Kapil Mishra, Anil Bajpai and Devinder Sehrawat were disqualified from the Delhi Assembly for supporting the BJP in the general elections.

"Sandeep Kumar, the respondent in this case, an elected member of the sixth Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, elected from Sultanpur Majra, Assembly Constituency No.10, has become subject to disqualification under Paragraph 2 (1) (a) of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution," the statement said.

The Speaker announced his decision on a petition by AAP MLA and party spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj.

"Suspended MLA Sandeep Kumar, a disgrace, finally disqualified," Bharadwaj said in a tweet, sharing a copy of the Delhi Assembly statement.

Last month, the AAP spokesperson had said he had submitted to the Speaker videos wherein Kumar admitted to mediapersons that he is a member of the BSP.

"This itself is sufficient proof to disqualify him from the Delhi Assembly. Rest all are stories cooked up by him. He is good at imagining stories and making his own films," Bhardwaj had said.

With the disqualification of the four AAP MLAs, the strength of legislators in the 70-member House has come down to 66.