Former Delhi minister Raaj Kumar Anand disqualified from assembly membership

New Delhi, Jun 14 (PTI) Former Delhi minister Raaj Kumar Anand has been disqualified from the membership of the assembly, Speaker Ram Niwas Goel said on Friday.

Anand had resigned from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the post of minister in the Delhi government in April to join the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

"He was given the date of June 10 for replying to the notice served to him under the anti-defection law but he did not reply. In the same notice, he was asked to be present physically on June 11 but he did not appear.

"He was given another chance to be physically present on June 14 but he did not come. His membership from the Delhi assembly has been terminated," Goel told PTI.

Anand was served the notice by the assembly on May 31 under the anti-defection law and asked to file his reply by 5 pm on June 10.

Reacting to the development, Anand told PTI over phone, "I will seek a legal opinion on the disqualification. We will see the detailed order and then seek legal opinion on it.

"Following the notice, my lawyers said they are well within the law to serve me a notice. I had contested the Lok Sabha polls on a ticket by another party and not as an Independent, which is why the notice was not wrong," he said.

The anti-defection law under the tenth schedule of the Constitution deals with situations of defection in Parliament or state legislatures by members of a political party, Independent members and nominated members, and lays the grounds for the disqualification of a member.

Anand was elected from the Patel Nagar reserved assembly constituency in the 2020 Delhi assembly elections. He quit the AAP, levelling allegations of corruption and neglect of Dalit leaders and volunteers in the organisational appointments in the party. PTI SLB BUN KSS KSS