21 Aam Aadmi Party MLAs in Delhi run the risk of losing their membership on the dual office of profit issue.

The MLAs in question are the ones who were appointed parliamentary secretaries by the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi on March 14, 2015 and have till the May 10 to reply to the Election Commission queries on the issue.

Based on their replies, the EC will make a suitable recommendation to the President of India, who will then take a final call.

Simultaneously a BJP activist also filed a complaint with the President of India, calling for the disqualification of the 21 parliamentary secretaries, on the grounds that they were holding dual offices of profit.

President Mukherjee forwarded the complaint to the Election Commission of India for its view which in turn has sought an explanation from the 21 MLAs.

In bid to shield the MLAs from being disqualified, the Kejriwal government passed a bill in the state assembly exempting the parliamentary secretaries from the ambit of the dual office of profit law, with retrospective affect.

The bill was then sent to the Lieutenant Governor and the centre for its approval. The bill is yet to get the centre's go ahead, and can only become operational once the centre gives its approval.

Though the President of India will take a final call on the fate of the MLAs based on the recommendations of the EC, constitutional experts believe that there is a strong case to be made against the 21 MLAs.

However, even if the MLA's are disqualified, there will be no danger to the Kejriwal government as the party has 67 MLAs in the 70 member assembly.

The list of parliamentary secretaries include Praveen Kumar, Sharad Kumar, Adarsh Shastri, Madan Lal, Charan Goel, Sarita Singh, Naresh Yadav, Jarnail Singh and Rajesh Gupta.

In 2006, Congress President Sonia Gandhi resigned her parliamentary seat after opposition claims that because she was also heading the NAC she was holding dual offices of profit.

