Raaj Kumar Anand disqualified from Assembly membership

New Delhi: Former Delhi minister Raaj Kumar Anand has been disqualified from the membership of the Assembly, Speaker Ram Niwas Goel said on Friday. Anand had resigned from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the post of

minister in the Delhi government in April to join the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

“He was given the date of June 10 for replying to

the notice served to him under the anti-defection law but he did not reply. In the same notice, he was asked to be present physically on June 11 but he did not appear.

“He was given another chance to be physically present on June 14 but he did not come. His membership from the Delhi Assembly has been terminated,” Goel said.

Anand was served the notice by the assembly on May 31 under the anti-defection law and asked to file his reply by 5 pm on June 10.

Reacting to the development, Anand said, “I will

seek a legal opinion on the disqualification. We will see the detailed order and then seek legal opinion on it.

“Following the notice, my lawyers said they are well within the law to serve me a notice. I had contested the Lok Sabha polls on

a ticket by another party and not as an Independent, which

is why the notice was not wrong,” he said.