AAP MLA Raaj Kumar Anand, who fought LS polls on BSP ticket, disqualified

NEW DELHI: Delhi assembly speaker Ram Niwas Goel disqualified Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator Raaj Kumar Anand from the assembly on Friday, a move that comes five weeks after the former minister joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and contested the Lok Sabha elections from the New Delhi seat.

Goel said the disqualified lawmaker, who represented Patel Nagar, was given three opportunities to present his side. However, he did not respond to a notice issued to him on May 31 and didn’t appear at two personal hearings on June 11 and June 14.

“As he failed to reply to the notice and failed to appear for two personal hearings, he was disqualified on June 14 under the anti-defection law. An order disqualifying Anand as AAP MLA from Patel Nagar assembly constituency has been issued by the Delhi assembly today,” Goel said.

Raaj Kumar Anand’s disqualification brings down AAP’s strength in the assembly to 61. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has 8 lawmakers which will go down to 7 after Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, the Badarpur legislator, resigns from the assembly. Bidhuri was elected to the Lok Sabha from the South Delhi parliamentary constituency.

Anand, who was the social welfare minister of Delhi, abruptly resigned from the cabinet on April 10, accusing the party of corruption and ignoring Dalits and describing his stint with the AAP as a “bad dream”. A month later, he joined the BSP on May 5.

Officials said the anti-defection laws applied to Anand because he joined the BSP and contested elections on the party’s ticket, without resigning as an AAP MLA.

The 10th schedule of the Constitution deals with situations when a lawmaker switches sides. Lawmakers can be disqualified for voluntarily giving up the membership of a political party or joining any other political party after the election.

Friday’s decision was taken on a petition filed by AAP chief whip in the Delhi assembly, Dilip Kumar Pandey.