Congress sets up 'war room' eyeing bypolls to 21 seats

Hours after the High Court quashed the appointment of 21 AAP MLAs as parliamentary secretaries, the Delhi Congress sets up a “war room” to prepare for bypolls to the constituencies represented by these legislators.

The High Court has quashed the appointment of the parliamentary secretaries on Thursday.
The Congress is now expecting a similar decision by the Election Commission, which is also hearing a plea to disqualify these legislators for holding an "office of profit". If that happens, these 21 Assembly constituencies will fall vacant, setting a stage for bypolls.

The Congress has set up a “war room” at Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee office on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg.

“We are hoping that there will be bypolls to the 21 Assembly seats, and the party will bag most number of seats,” said a Congress leader.

Congress sources said that the party has conducted an “internal” survey. “As per the survey, while the party will win 12 to 15 seats, the BJP will manage to get 5 seats,” said a Congress leader. “The Aam Aadmi Party will be reduced to one seats out of the 21 Assembly constituency seats,” he added.

Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee President Ajay Maken has been claiming that the party will make a come back in any of the upcoming elections.

The Congress won four seats in the municipal bypolls that took place in May. The Aam Aadmi Party bagged five seats. "We are also eyeing the 2017 municipal elections. We are preparing a full fledged agenda on issues like healthcare, eduction and sanitation," said the Congress leader. "But we are looking forward to the bypolls to the 21 Assembly constituencies," he added.

Earlier, the Election Commission had rejected the petitions of the Delhi government, BJP and Congress to be made party to the ongoing case against 21 Parliamentary Secretaries of the Arvind Kejriwal government.

The case was filed on a plea seeking their disqualification from Delhi Assembly for holding an "office of profit".

The 21 legislators have been claiming that they did not enjoy any pecuniary benefit while holding the post of parliamentary secretaries, and the post did not carry any remuneration or power.