NEW DELHI: 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 state Legislative Assembly.
The CM, sources said, is however afraid that the election commission may not stop at merely taking away his membership. He fears it may even bar him from contesting elections for up to six years.
Though the law says a legislator can be barred from contesting an election only in the case of conviction by a court of law for more than two years, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leadership is bracing for all eventualities.
In a scenario where the commission disqualifies him as an MLA, he would have to resign as CM. But no law stops him from being re-elected on the same day as the leader of the ruling alliance comprising the JMM, Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal.
As a leader of the ruling alliance, he may again stake his claim to form the government. The governor would have no option but to swear him in as CM.
The state legislature has 81 seats. Soren’s JMM has 30 MLAs, its ally Congress 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 recently caught with unaccounted cash by the Bengal Police vote against him, the CM commands a comfortable majority.
The CM has held consultations with his allies and JMM MLAs about all possible scenarios. Sources said Soren would return as CM on the same day if the EC lets him off with a mere disqualification.
The other option 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 court. If the court gives an adverse judgment, 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 as per its recommendation. He had sought the poll panel’s advice on whether the CM holding a mining licence 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 Soren’s disqualification under Sec 9(A) of the Representation of the People Act.
The CM 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 CM. He said he had in any case applied for cancellation of the lease in the same month it was allotted.
Strategy meet
Leaders of the ruling coalition on Friday held a series of meetings to work out strategies.
Among the ideas was to protect the MLAs by parking them in a resort in a friendly state such as Chhattisgarh, Bengal or Bihar to prevent poaching by the BJP.
Opponents are misusing the constitutional institutions: Soren
Claiming that "satanic forces" were attempting to destabilise his democratically-elected government, Soren on Friday asserted that he will fight till the last drop of his blood.
Addressing a government function in Latehar, Soren said he was not worried as he was given the mandate to govern the state by the people and not his opponents.
"Not able to compete with us politically, our opponents are misusing the constitutional institutions. They are using ED, CBI, Lokpal and Income Tax Department to destabilise our government. But we are not worried about it. We have been given this mandate not by the opponents but by the people," he said.
"The state underwent COVID-19 situation for two years. Now, when we accelerated our pace of development, satanic forces are out of their holes to put up a blockade on our speed. Such forces can do anything but can never stop me from doing work for my people," he said.
At the programme, Soren inaugurated and laid the foundations of several projects worth around Rs 231.27 crore.
"I am the son of a tribal and fear is not there in a tribal's DNA. I will be fighting till the last drop of blood in my body," he said.
Soren claimed that a "gang of outside forces" was active in Jharkhand.
"This gang had worked to destroy the state for the last 20 years. When they were dethroned in 2019, the conspirators could not tolerate it. If we stay here, they are going to have a difficult time ahead," he said.
"We are not power hungry. We are here under a constitutional system just to work for the welfare of the people.
Did anyone ever think that every old, widow and single woman will get pension? This was made possible by your son with your blessings," the chief minister said.
Soren said his government urged the Centre to sanction more funds for giving pension to the people of the state as Jharkhand is poor.
"But, they did not sanction. They are a group of traders. They know how to take but not how to give," he said.
The chief minister also hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Droupadi Murmu.
"It is unfortunate that on the occasion of World Tribal Day (August 9), the prime minister and the tribal president of the country did not even find it appropriate to extend good wishes to the tribal society of the country. In their eyes we are not 'adivasis' (tribals) but 'vanvasis' (forest dwellers)," he claimed.
(With PTI Inputs)