RANCHI: Now, the sword of disqualification from the Assembly hangs over another MLA in Jharkhand. The Election Commission of India has issued a notice to BJP leader Samri Lal over allegations that he forged his caste certificate during the 2019 state Assembly polls.
The ECI’s notice followed after a delegation of Congress and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leaders submitted a memorandum to Governor Ramesh Bais, seeking Lal’s disqualification in light of the accusations.
Lal, however, has hit back, saying he has been contesting elections since 1985.
“I was a Jharkhandi when I contested on JMM ticket in 2005 and 2009, but as soon as I got elected on BJP ticket, I became a non-Jharkhandi,” he said, adding that he is a Jharkhandi as his grandfather migrated here before Independence, and his father worked in Ranchi, which gives him the right to get reservation.
Lal is the eighth MLA facing disqualification in Jharkhand, after BJP’s Babulala Marandi; Congress’ Pradeep Yadav who defected from JVM (P), and Irfan Ansari, Rajesh Kacchap and Naman Bixal Kongari who were arrested by Kolkata police with huge cash; and Chief Minister Hemant Soren and his brother Basant Soren, who are accused in an office of profit case.
Lal had contested from the Kanke seat, which is reserved for the Scheduled Castes. Congress leader Suresh Baitha had alleged that Lal originally does not belong to Jharkhand and hence cannot claim the caste benefit here.
Later, a caste scrutiny panel, set up by the state, had observed that Samri’s father had migrated to Jharkhand from Rajasthan and hence he cannot claim reservation here in Jharkhand.