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Yogendra Yadav letter reveals Aam Aadmi Party violated own constitution

AAP leader Yogendra Yadav?s letter to the party?s Political Affairs Committee has brought to light several deviations made by the party from what was first envisaged.

AAP leader Yogendra Yadav?s letter to the party?s Political Affairs Committee has brought to light several deviations made by the party from what was first envisaged. This is evidenced by the party?s violation of the intended structure and processes enshrined in its constitution. Consider these:

n Point (i) of Article 4 F(c) says: ?The national executive shall consist of not more than 30 members of whom at least seven shall be women and five shall be students.? Further, point 11 of a section entitled ?How we are different? on the party?s website says, ?AAP is fully committed to the principles of gender equity and will represent women and students amply at all levels of party organisation.? In clear violation of this, only two members, Christina Samy and Anjali Damania, of the national executive that met on Friday were women, and none were students.

n In his letter to the PAC, Yadav wrote, ?The national executive was meant to be the real executive body, with PAC taking some quick decisions in between two meetings of the NE… the concentration of powers in the hands of PAC meant that the inputs in the decision making were confined to a few persons who were themselves unrepresentative in terms of gender, region and social groups and perhaps limited in their wisdom.? This is clear in Article 4 F (e) which says: ?National Political Affairs Committee shall discharge all executive functions in between two meetings of the national executive.? Additionally, the ?How We Are Different? section says, ?There is no central high command in AAP. The party structure follows a bottom to top approach where the council members elect the executive body and also holds the power to recall it.?

n Article 6 C(ii) that details the internal Lokpal within the AAP says: ?The Lokpal/Lokayukta shall be a body comprising three persons, one of whom shall be an eminent jurist/eminent person from the legal field. Other members shall be eminent persons from different walks of life.? The ?How we are different section? says: ?Every member of the AAP will have to follow a strict internal code of conduct or internal Lokpal… Any citizen can present proof of wrongdoing against a party member. If internal Lokpal finds the party member guilty, he or she will be subjected to appropriate disciplinary action as decided by the internal Lokpal.? The party?s internal Lokpal has however failed to take off, with only two members listed on the party?s website, ex-navy chief Admiral Ramdas, and Dr Ilina Sen, neither of whom have a legal background. This despite the party arguing for a strong Jan Lokpal Bill at the centre.

n Article 10 (i) says: ?Decisions regarding merger, split, and dissolution shall be taken at a plenary session comprising all office-bearers, members of all organs and Members of Parliament, State Legislature, Corporations and Panchayats.? However, several small parties merged with the AAP prior to the Delhi Assembly and Lok Sabha elections such as the Delhi state unit of the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Internationalist Democratic Party without any such session being called, with an announcement being made by leaders of the PAC.

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First published on: 07-06-2014 at 04:52 IST
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