The Election Commission on Friday disqualified 20 Aam Adami Party MLAs for holding ‘office of profit.’ The EC has sent its recommendation to the President for his assent.

By the time, this story was being written, AAP sources denied such developments. However, an AAP insider conceded on the condition of anonymity that head of the EC Achal Kumar Joti may have sent the recommendation before his retirement. Kumar Joti is going to retire from his services on Monday.

BJP was quick to respond to the Election Commission’s decision. BJP leader Vijendra Gupta has demanded Delhi CM Kejriwal’s resignation.

If cleared by the President, the disqualification would mean that AAP's strength in Delhi Assembly will reduce to 47 from the existing 67. The disqualification of the legislators may pave the way for by-elections in Delhi.

The controversy over the "office of profit" started soon after the party's victory in the Assembly elections in Delhi.

A petition filed by Delhi lawyer Prashant Patel had sought the disqualification of the MLAs on the grounds that they were holding an 'office of profit' as parliamentary secretaries.

The MLAs' pleas that the case against them be dropped were rejected by the EC in June 2017.

In August 2017, the Delhi High Court refused the MLAs' plea to stay the election body's order upholding maintainability of the petition despite the quashing of their appointment as parliamentary secretaries in 2016.

It had argued that there was no scope for a stay since the EC's proceedings on hearing the central issue of whether the MLAs had indeed held 'office of profit' were yet to begin.

It is a developing story, will be updated as more inputs come in