Murder accused to get Jharkhand's best legislator award

Janardhan Paswan, an accused in a murder case, is set to get the best legislator award of Jharkhand even as his selection has come as a surprise to many members of the state assembly.

Janardhan Paswan, an accused in a murder case, is set to get the best legislator award of Jharkhand even as his selection has come as a surprise to many members of the state assembly.

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Paswan is a Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) legislator from Chatra. He will be conferred the best legislator award on Monday night in the state assembly.

Every year on its establishment day Nov 22, the Jharkhand assembly confers the awardon a selected member. This year the assembly committee chose Paswan for the honour, never mind that he is an accused in the murder of a government official, Mohammad Ali, not so long ago.

Ali was a child development project officer of Chatra district and was killed in January this year.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well opposition parties are stunned with the selection of Prasad for the award.

"It is sad that a murder accused will be conferred the best legislator award. I am unable to understand how he was selected despite the fact he does not fulfil the parameters of being the best legislator," Satyanand Bhokta, former minister and a BJP leader, told reporters.

C.P. Singh, who is the speaker and a senior BJP leader, headed the assembly committee that selected Paswan for the honour.

But Singh said: "Even opposition members were members of the committee."