New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has found ample evidence to sustain a case of ‘office of profit’ against Jharkhand Chief Minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren, according to sources in the commission.
The ECI sent its opinion on the mining lease controversy involving Soren to state Governor Ramesh Bais Thursday, ThePrint has learnt. Bais will now decide on the question of Soren’s disqualification as an MLA.
According to sources in the ECI, the opinion was reached after considering written submissions from Soren, Jharkhand chief secretary Sukhdeo Singh and others.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Jharkhand Nishikant Dubey told the media, “Our stand is vindicated, as the Election Commission has recommended the disqualification of the chief minister in the mining lease case. We will fight this case till the end”.
Governor Bais, who was in Delhi, reached Ranchi Thursday afternoon and is expected to seek legal counsel before recommending Soren’s disqualification from the assembly.
Such a move is likely to throw the Jharkhand government — a coalition comprising the JMM, the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) — into disarray, and both the government and the BJP have started preparing for the scenario, it is learnt.
Trouble for the Jharkhand CM started in February, when former CM and senior BJP leader Raghubar Das accused Soren of allotting the mining lease for a stone quarry — spread over 0.88 acres in Ranchi’s Angara block — to a company held by himself in May last year, and getting it cleared by the Gram Sabha in June 2021. Soren’s company received an environmental clearance for the project in September.
Soren himself holds the two relevant ministerial portfolios — forest, environment and climate change, as well as mines and geology.
In a petition submitted to the governor in February, the BJP sought Soren’s disqualification, based on the provisions of Section 9A of The Representation of the People Act, 1951. As clamour for the CM’s disqualification from the legislative assembly gathered strength, the governor sought the ECI’s legal opinion on the issue.
Section 9A of The Representation of the People Act states that a person shall be disqualified (from membership of Parliament or a state legislature) “if, and for so long as, there is 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”.
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Way ahead
A day after Das’s allegations, on 11 February, Soren surrendered the lease. In April, however, Das brought fresh allegations against the Jharkhand CM, claiming Soren had allotted 11 acres of land to his wife in Ranchi’s industrial cluster. Soren also holds the charge of the state’s industries department.
After Bais referred the matter to the ECI, the commission on 8 April sought the relevant and “authenticated” documents related to the lease from chief secretary Sukhdev Singh, which the Jharkhand government then provided.
Later, the ECI also asked Soren to clarify his stand on the case.
After the commission sent its opinion on the matter to the governor Thursday, the JMM has called all its MLAs to Ranchi to discuss the party’s stand if Soren is disqualified as an MLA, JMM sources said.
The party may choose a new head of government, and it’s likely that Soren will try to put his wife, Kalpana, in the position, according to the sources.
Meanwhile, Dubey said, “After the chief minister’s resignation, we will make a decision as a constitutional crisis is emerging in Jharkhand.”
The BJP is the principal opposition party in the state, and has called a meeting of leaders to chalk out a strategy in case of a crisis, sources in the party said.
“First we will see what happens to Hemant Soren. There are many issues at stake, but if he chooses his wife to lead the state, it will not be a stable government,” said a BJP leader.
Dubey said, however, that the party would seek fresh elections in the state if the Hemant Soren government falls.
“It is a corrupt government that is falling due to its own corruption,” he added.
JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya had told ThePrint in May, “There is no question of picking somebody else to be the CM in case he is disqualified. The Constitution says that a non-member (of the legislative assembly) can become a minister for six months, but will have to be elected within those six months to continue. This is what happened in West Bengal, too”.
He had also said that Soren would challenge any decision by the ECI recommending his disqualification in the Jharkhand High Court.
The Jharkhand government and the CM had also filed separate pleas in the Supreme Court against an order of the Jharkhand High Court. In its order, the high court had accepted the maintainability of a public interest litigation for a probe against the JMM leader in the matter.
The SC stayed the HC proceedings against Soren earlier this month.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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