Jharkhand CM mining lease case: On August 12, the legal team of Soren concluded its arguments before the Election Commission following which the BJP gave a rejoinder.
Mumbai: As Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais will soon announce the report sent by the Election Commission, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren is likely to be disqualified from the legislature. The BJP demanded that he be removed from office as an MLA after accusing him of giving a mining lease to himself. This morning, the opinion was sent in a sealed envelope to the Jharkhand Raj Bhavan. Bais will soon make the view public. He had brought up the issue with the election panel.
The chief minister of Jharkhand’s team, however, had argued before the election panel that the clauses of the election law, which he has been charged with breaking, do not apply in this particular instance.
The legal team representing Soren finished up their presentation to the Election Commission on August 12. The BJP, the petitioner in the case, then responded. The poll panel received the written comments from the two sides on August 18.
According to Article 192 of the Constitution, the governor will make the final decision if there is any doubt as to whether a member of a state’s House of the Legislature has been subject to any of the disqualifications. “Before giving any decision on any such question, the Governor shall obtain the opinion of the Election Commission and shall act according to such opinion,” it reads.
During the arguments, Soren’s attorney claimed that Section 9 A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which addresses “disqualification for government contracts,” does not apply to the instances at hand.
“They argued for nearly two hours. Following which we gave our rejoinder and showed it is a matter of conflict of interest and there are a series of judgments of the Supreme Court which cover this (case),” BJP’s counsel Kumar Harsh told reporters after the Election Commission hearing on August 12.
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