Prez Kovind junks plea to disqualify AAP MLA for being member of NDMC

President Ram Nath Kovind has rejected a plea seeking disqualification of Aam Aadmi Party MLA Surender Singh for allegedly holding an office of profit by being a member of the New Delhi Municipal Council.

The President signed the order rejecting the petition on December 31, 2019 based on an opinion given by the Election Commission on September 16 last year.

The February 8 polls to the Delhi assembly were announced on January 6. Singh, MLA from Cantonment in the outgoing assembly, was denied a ticket by the AAP.

One Sanjeev Kumar Rajput had moved a petition in August last year seeking disqualification of Singh as MLA, alleging that by being a member of the NDMC he was holding an office of profit.

The EC opined that "as per Section 4 of the NDMC Act, 1994, there is a statutory mandate to appoint two such MLAs to NDMC who have been elected to the Delhi Legislative Assembly from an assembly constituency which falls wholly or partly in the NDMC area. Hence, Surender Singh, MLA did not incur disqualification."

Based on the Commission's opinion, the President rejected the petition.