Rebel AAP MLA Alka Lamba disqualified

Rebel AAP MLA Alka Lamba was on Thursday disqualified by Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel under anti-defection law.

“The disqualification of Ms. Alka Lamba takes effect from 06.09.2019... Consequently the Chandni Chowk Assembly Constituency seat has fallen vacant,” an official statement from the Delhi Assembly said.

The Speaker took the decision based on a disqualification petition moved by AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj.

On September 6, Ms. Lamba had tweeted that she has resigned from the party (AAP) membership. But later Ms. Lamba said that she had never given a written resignation and she was still part of



AAP.

Long fight

For the past couple of months, Ms. Lamba has been maintaining the stand that she will contest on a Congress ticket if the party approaches her, else she will contest as an independent from Chandni Chowk.

In December 2018, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had sought disciplinary action against Ms. Lamba for being at the forefront of criticism against a demand by some AAP MLAs to recall the Bharat Ratna conferred on late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

This rift between Ms. Lamba and the party has been growing ever since, but she has not formally resigned from the party. She has been vocal against AAP for the last couple of months and has not been called for party meetings.