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Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren in survival battle as EC report goes to guv
Though Soren will not be the first sitting CM to lose their seat while being in office, the circumstances of the case may be peculiar.
A political crisis gripped Jharkhand on Thursday after the Election Commission (EC) sent a report to the governor ostensibly recommending the disqualification of chief minister Hemant Soren as a member of the assembly for allegedly holding a mining licence.
A government official familiar with developments said EC made its recommendation in a sealed envelope sent to governor Ramesh Bais, who had sought the poll watchdog’s advice after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sought action against the CM for allegedly holding an “office of profit” — in this case, a mining licence.
It was unclear whether EC also recommended that Soren be barred from further contesting elections for a specific time period. “EC has recommended disqualification. Now it is up to the governor what call he takes on EC’s opinion,” said the senior official, requesting anonymity.
HT has not seen the contents of the letter.
Bais, who returned to Ranchi on Thursday from New Delhi, remained huddled in Raj Bhavan with senior advisers and officials. “I am not aware of the content of the communication. I can say anything only after I see it,” he told reporters at the airport.
A defiant Soren — whose alliance commands 49 of the state assembly’s 81 seats — attacked the BJP and EC, and said no communication was received from either the poll watchdog or the Governor.
“It seems that BJP leaders including a BJP MP and his puppet journalists have themselves drafted the EC report, which is otherwise always given in a sealed cover,” Soren said in a statement issued by his secretariat.
The ruling alliance — comprising 30 members of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), 18 of the Congress, and one of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) — appeared confident that the government was safe. Jharkhand goes to polls in 2024.
The BJP attacked the CM.
How the political crisis could evolve remained unclear. Though Soren will not be the first sitting CM to lose their seat while being in office, the circumstances of the case may be peculiar. If he is only disqualified from his current position as member of legislative assembly, there is a view that he may be able to contest a by-election within six months and continue as CM till then.If he then wins the bypoll and his party renominates him as the floor leader, he can remain CM.
But if he is both disqualified as MLA and barred from contesting elections for a specific period of time — in 2001, then Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa was convicted of corruption and similarly barred from contesting election; she returned as CM only after the Madras high court overturned her conviction and she fought a bypoll — then it will become difficult for him to continue as CM.
Soren is almost certain to challenge the decision by the Governor in court.
Under Article 192 of the Constitution, rulings regarding an MLA’s disqualifications have to be referred to the governor who in turn “shall obtain the opinion of the Election Commission and shall act according to such opinion.”
The crisis began in February, when the BJP submitted a memorandum to the Governor seeking Soren’s disqualification and alleging the CM had misused his position to get the licence of a stone mine on the outskirts of Ranchi allotted in his name. The same month, Soren applied for cancellation of the lease, which was granted on February 4.
The BJP argued that Soren had broken the office of profit guidelines — which are aimed at preventing conflict of interest in the role of parliamentarians and state lawmakers — and therefore, should be disqualified under Section 9(A) of Representation of People’s Act, 1952. According to Section 9A, ”A person shall be disqualified if, and for so long as, there subsists a contract entered into by him in the course of his trade or business with the appropriate Government for the supply of goods to, or for the execution of any works undertaken by that government.’’
Soren argued that holding a mining lease was out of the purview of the office of profit rules and that the lease for the 0.88 acre parcel of land was originally granted to him on lease for 10 years on May 17, 2008, when he didn’t hold the CM’s position. He had applied for renewal of the mining lease in 2018, but the application had lapsed.
According to Soren, he reapplied “sometime in 2021” when the deputy commissioner in Ranchi invited fresh applications and he was subsequently granted the lease as per procedures. However, Soren said, he did not obtain the consent to operate and on February 4 this year, he applied to surrender the lease and his request was accepted by the department.
On March 28, Bais referred the petition to EC.
Congress legislature party leader and state rural development minister Alamgir Alam ruled out any threat to the ruling coalition in the state and said “even in the probability of Soren, who is also the JMM executive president, being disqualified from assembly in an office of profit case, there is no threat to the government”.
“It is a policy matter. Our government will continue. Hemant Soren continues to be our leader,” he added.
The main opposition BJP has 26 MLAs in the House, while its ally AJSU party has two legislators.
JMM general secretary and spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya accused the BJP of conspiring against the government and also urged the EC to take cognisance of BJP leader Dubey.
“The governor is still to make any statement or pass any order based on the ECI opinion. We are not even aware whether ECI communication has been received or not. But the BJP leaders are already making statements as if the ECI order has been drafted on Deen Dayal Upadhyay road (the BJP office in New Delhi.) BJP has been trying these dirty tricks to destabilise a democratically elected government,” added Bhattacharya.
Guarded in its statement related to the EC recommendation, Jharkhand BJP president Deepak Prakash said the truth will ultimately prevail. “I would not like to comment about the EC recommendations as yet because only the Governor knows about it. However, we are confident that the EC would accept our argument because we have raised the correct legal provisions. We are confident that ultimately the truth will prevail,” said Prakash.
