In what may appear to be a bizarre wish, Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren is hoping that media reports on his disqualification come true and the Election Commission of India disqualifies him as a member of the current state Legislative Assembly.
The chief minister, sources said, is afraid that the election commission may not stop at merely taking away his membership. He fears that the commission may even bar him from contesting elections for a period up to six years. Though the law says a legislator can be barred from contesting election only in the case of conviction by a court of law for more than two years, JMM leadership is bracing for all eventualities.
In a scenario where the commission disqualifies him as an MLA, Soren would have to tender his resignation as chief minister. But no law stops him from being re-elected on the same day as the leader of the ruling alliance comprising the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal. As a leader of the ruling alliance, he may again stake claim to form the government. The governor has no option but to swear him in as chief minister.
The state legislature has 81 seats, Soren’s JMM has 30 MLAs, its ally Congress has 18, and three seats are held by other smaller allies. Together the ruling alliance has a strength of 51. Even if the three Congress MLAs who were recently caught with unaccounted cash by the Bengal Police vote against the ruling alliance, the chief minister commands a comfortable majority.
The chief minister has held consultations with his allies and JMM MLAs about all possible scenarios. Sources said that Hemant Soren would return as chief minister on the same day if the EC lets him off with a mere disqualification.
The other option before the chief minister is to appeal against the EC order in a High Court. As per law, he would have eight weeks to appeal against the EC order in the High Court. If the High Court gives an adverse judgement, he would be allowed to appeal in the Supreme Court, which can decide the case as per its convenience.
Jharkhand governor Ramesh Bais is likely to make the EC order public on Saturday and act on it as per EC’s recommendation. The governor had sought advice of the Election Commission on whether the state chief minister holding a mining license amounted to holding “an office of profit”. The allegation against the CM was made by the BJP in a letter to the governor. The party had demanded the disqualification of the chief minister under Section 9(A) of the Representation of People’s Act.
The CM has in his defence said that the mining lease does not fall under the purview of the office of profit rules as he got a 10-year lease in 2008 when he was not chief minister. He said he had in any case applied for cancellation of the lease in the same month as it was allotted.
After examining the allegation forwarded by the governor, the election commission has found Soren guilty of holding an office of profit.