Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s government in trouble after multiple CBI and ED investigations, and the Election Commission is also understood to have recommended his disqualification for holding office of profit.
The EC is believed to have given a report to Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais stating that CM and JMM leader Hemant Soren should be disqualified as an MLA for violating the Representation of the People Act by extending a mining lease to himself, Raj Bhavan sources said in Ranchi.
Governor Ramesh Bais, however, neither confirmed nor denied EC reports after returning to Ranchi this afternoon. "I was in AIIMS, Delhi, for two days. I will be in a position to tell about any such decision when I reach Raj Bhavan," he said at the airport.
Former BJP chief minister Raghubar Das stated that let’s wait for the governor’s word to know the outcome of the political instability. At the same time, Das advocated that “he should be stripped of his membership” and “debarred” from contesting elections. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey tweeted, “The Election Commission letter has reached the governor... I had announced that it would be done within August,” which attracted objections from the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, JMM, and Congress.
Soren’s reaction
When asked for his reaction to reports that the EC has recommended his dismissal, CM Soren alleging blatant misuse of constitutional authorities and public agencies. "It seems that BJP leaders, including a BJP MP and his puppet journalists, have themselves drafted the ECI report, which is otherwise always given in a sealed cover," Soren said in a statement issued by his secretariat. "No communication in this regard has been received by the Chief Minister's Office" either from the EC or the Governor, his secretariat insisted.
Simultaneously, four more Jharkhand IAS officers are under ED glare in the Jharkhand mining scam after the sleuths arrested mining secretary Pooja Singhal in May on charges of embezzlement of MGNREGA funds in the Khunti district of the State. The agency is inching towards the CM after tightening the noose around what sources stated the ecosystem developed to carry out the irregular activities, said sources. The agency has also arrested middleman Prem Prakash after recovering an AK-47 from his house, which later turned out to be the property of local policemen.