HC junks plea seeking deregistration of AAP and disqualification of Kejriwal

New Delhi: Terming it a “highly misconceived” plea, Delhi High Court Wednesday dismissed a PIL seeking a direction to the Election Commission (EC) to deregister Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and disqualify its chief Arvind Kejriwal and others from contesting elections for boycotting HC proceedings in the liquor policy case.

A bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia said the petition by Satish Kumar Aggarwal was devoid of any merit and his contention was “too far-fetched, over stretched and misplaced”. Underlining that there is no provision in the Representation of People Act that says such conduct attracts disqualification, it pointed out Contempt of Courts Act deals with such a situation.

According to the PIL, AAP was liable to be deregistered in terms of Section 29A(5) of RPA on account of its officer-bearers and members -- Kerjiwal, Manish Sisodia and Durgesh Pathak -- boycotting the proceedings before Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma in the liquor policy case. The counsel for the petitioner contended that while Section 29A(5) mandates a political party to “bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution”, Kejriwal, Sisodia and Pathak failed to adhere to the constitutional principles when they “scandalised and politicised the entire system” in the case.

“There is nothing on record to establish that Respondent no. 3 (AAP) has admitted that it has no faith in the Constitution or the principles of secularism, socialism or democracy,” HC observed. It also said the petitioner’s claim that Kejriwal and others ought to be disqualified for their lack of allegiance to the constitutional provision is “absolutely baseless”. The issue of their disqualification from contesting polls would arise only when there are any upcoming elections and the three politicians decide to contest in them, it added.

HC noted that it was not the petitioner’s case that AAP obtained its registration through fraud or that the political party had intimated to EC that it no longer had allegiance to the Constitution. “Having heard the parties, we are of the view that the PIL is highly misconceived,” HC said, dismissing it.

During the hearing, the court also repeatedly questioned the maintainability of the plea and asked the petitioner to highlight any statutory provision empowering EC to deregister a political party in such circumstances. “You are asking us to direct EC to deregister a party. Is there any provision for the deregistration of a political party?” it asked.