Two AAP MLAs quit after being denied ticket for Feb 8 polls, one of them joins Congress
New Delhi: In a setback to the AAP, two of its MLAs quit the party after they were denied ticket for the February 8 Delhi Assembly election with one of them joining the Congress on Saturday.
An Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said the resignations of Dwarka MLA Adarsh Shastri and Hari Nagar MLA Jagdeep Singh was "unfortunate but expected".
While Shastri joined the Congress on Saturday, Singh said he was in talks with the Shiromani Akali Dal, an ally of the BJP.
Shastri, who was among the 15 members of the outgoing Assembly not fielded by the AAP this time, alleged that the party was "selling" tickets and accused Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of acting in an autocratic manner.
Shastri alleged that the AAP pretended to be an honest party and "made bus tickets free for women but are charging Rs 10 crore for an assembly seat ticket".
Countering Shastri's allegations, another AAP leader said that when tickets are denied, people make such claims.
"Does that mean when he previously contested from the AAP, he bought the ticket. The ticket distribution was strictly made on the basis of the performance of the MLAs which was closely scrutinised. All those MLAs whose performance was found to be not up to the mark were dropped," he said.
In the Dwarka seat, the AAP replaced Shastri, the grandson of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, by Vinay Kumar Mishra, Congress leader Mahabal Mishra's son who joined the party from Congress just a day before the candidates' list was released.
Singh was replaced by former Congress councillor Rajkumari Dhillon who had joined the party with Mishra.
Singh said he was disappointed with the party for denying him a ticket and nominating Dhillon. "Even during the Lok Sabha election, I raised my objection over alliance with the Congress and now they have brought in five people from Congress who are directly or indirectly associated with (anti-Sikh riots convict) Sajjan Kumar," he said.
Earlier, AAP's Badarpur MLA N D Sharma, who quit the party earlier this month protesting against induction of Congress leaders into the party fold, had alleged that the party was selling tickets.
Sharma too was dropped and AAP fielded Ram Singh Netaji, who joined the party from Congress, from the Badarpur seat. According to sources, Sharma is in talks to join the Bahujan Samaj Party.
Shastri also said that he was upset with the party as it had not talked about the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and NRC which triggered nation-wide protests.
"I told him (Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal) you are the only CM who had not talked about CAA and NRC. He did not even go to meet the students at JNU and Jamia Millia Islamia," he said.
"I left a high ranked post in a MNC where I earned in crores, under attraction of Kejriwal's talks of honesty and Janlokpal. But, I am disillusioned now with AAP and Kejriwal's dishonest politics," Shastri alleged in a press conference.
Kejriwal had earlier said he hoped that the party MLAs who were dropped would not leave the "Aam Aadmi party family".
Responding to a question that other parties might try to poach the sitting legislators, the AAP national convenor said that he hopes they will stay with the party.
"All parties will try it. But they (sitting MLAs) are our family. I hope they will remain with us," Kejriwal told reporters.
Senior party leader Sanjay Singh said the party is looking to give important responsibilities to all those MLAs who have been dropped.
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Ordinance issued to increase number of Supreme Court judges from 34 to 38
New Delhi (PTI): The government has promulgated an ordinance to increase the strength of the Supreme Court from the present 34 judges to 38, including the Chief Justice of India.
The law ministry notified the ordinance on Saturday, which amended the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956, to increase the sanctioned strength of the top court.
So far, the sanctioned strength of the top court was 34, including the Chief Justice of India (CJI). Now, the number of judges has been increased by four, taking the sanctioned strength to 38.
The top court will now have 37 judges, other than the CJI.
With the apex court having two vacancies at present, and the ordinance coming into force immediately, the Supreme Court Collegium will now have to recommend six names for appointment as judges in the top court.
A bill will be brought in the Monsoon Session of Parliament to convert the ordinance – an executive order – into a law passed by Parliament.
The Union Cabinet had cleared a draft bill on May 5 to increase the number of apex court judges.
The strength of the Supreme Court was last increased from 30 to 33 (excluding the CJI) in 2019.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, as originally enacted in 1956, put the maximum number of judges (excluding the CJI) at 10.
This number was increased to 13 by the Supreme Court (Number of Judges), Amendment Act, 1960, and to 17 by another amendment to the law.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 1986, augmented the strength of judges from 17 to 25, excluding the CJI.
A fresh amendment in 2009 further increased the strength from 25 to 30.
Article 124(3) of the Constitution lists the qualifications required to become a Supreme Court judge.
An Indian citizen who has either served as a high court judge for at least five years, or as an advocate for 10 years, or is a distinguished jurist, can be appointed to the top court.
The strength of the Supreme Court is increased based on the recommendations of the CJI, who writes to the Union law minister. After consulting the finance ministry, the Department of Justice under the law ministry moves the Cabinet with a draft bill.
