File photo of Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal
The Supreme Court will take up on Monday the Aam Aadmi Party's petition challenging the imposition of President's Rule in Delhi.
"There is no possibility of any alternate government in Delhi and the Lieutenant Governor should have dissolved the assembly," senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Arvind Kejriwal's AAP, argued before a bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam.
Mr Kejriwal, while resigning from the Delhi Chief Minister's post on February 14, had recommended the dissolution of the assembly. The Centre, however, refused to pay heed to his advice and, instead, placed it under a spell of suspended animation. The AAP had yesterday moved the Top Court against the Centre's decision.
The AAP, in its petition, has described the Centre's action as "malafide" and "unconstitutional," and alleged that President's Rule was clamped to enable the Centre to rule Delhi by proxy and delay fresh assembly polls.
The capital came under a spell of President's Rule on Monday, some 60 hours after Mr Kejriwal stepped down from Chief Minister's post after the BJP and the Congress foiled his plans to introduce the anti-graft Jan Lokpal Bill in the Delhi Assembly.
In an assembly with a strength of 70, the AAP has 27 members. The BJP and its ally Shiromani Akali Dal together have strength of 32, but they have declared that they would stay away from the government-formation exercise, and have favoured a fresh round of polls.
The BJP, as part of the exercise to refurbish its image in the capital ahead of the Lok Sabha and assembly polls, had yesterday named Harsh Vardhan as the president of Delhi unit. He replaces Vijay Goel, who was made a member of the Rajya Sabha, reportedly as part of a deal worked out by the party's top leadership.
The Congress, which suffered a shock defeat in the assembly polls held in December, plummeted to its lowest-ever tally of 8.