Jharkhand CM Soren moves HC to restrain governor from taking action on EC opinion

Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Monday approached the Jharkhand high court seeking directions to restrain governor Ramesh Bais from initiating any action on the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) opinion on the office of profit row surrounding his now-scrapped mining lease.

A political crisis gripped Jharkhand on August 25 after ECI sent a report to the governor, ostensibly recommending Soren’s disqualification as a member of the assembly for allegedly holding a mining licence, in violation of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951. But the governor has neither made the recommendation public nor taken any decision based on it.

According to Soren’s counsel Piyush Chitresh, the writ petition also referred to some recent media reports that said the governor sought a second opinion from the poll watchdog on the matter.

This came even as ECI officials said no further opinion was sought by the governor.

“We have a two-fold prayer in the petition. First, to restrain the governor from taking any action in furtherance to the ECI opinion sent to Raj Bhavan in reference to the chief minister’s mining lease,” Chitresh said.

“We have seen media reports saying the governor sought a second opinion from ECI on the issue which is unconstitutional. There have also been conflicting media reports that ECI has denied having received any such second opinion by the governor. This is creating a state of confusion, which goes against the mandate of a duly elected government. We have prayed that, if at all, ECI gives a second opinion, it should first give the petitioner an opportunity to be heard prior to giving the opinion,” he added.

Both the governor and ECI have been made respondents in the matter. HT reached out to an ECI official for a response on the matter but did not get one immediately. An official at Raj Bhavan refused to comment.

The move by Soren is seen as an attempt to resolve the uncertainty over his position, given that almost three months have passed since the ECI opinion.

A government official earlier said the poll body made its recommendation in a sealed envelope on August 25 to the governor, who sought its advice after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded action against Soren for allegedly holding an “office of profit” – in this case, a mining licence.

On September 1, a delegation of the state’s ruling alliance – Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal – also met and urged the governor to clear the air on the ECI report.

It is not clear why the governor is yet to act on the poll body’s advice despite repeated requests by the state’s ruling dispensation.

Jharkhand’s political crisis has its genesis in February, when the BJP alleged the CM had misused his position to get the licence of a stone mine on the outskirts of Ranchi allotted in his name. The same month, Soren applied for cancellation of the lease, which was granted on February 4.

Soren’s team earlier said they were exploring legal actions. The chief minister even approached ECI, seeking a copy of the (first) opinion. The poll watchdog, however, rejected the request.

Soren’s party, the JMM, also filed an RTI application with Raj Bhavan but wasn’t successful.

Earlier, Bais told a ruling alliance delegation that he was taking legal opinion on the matter before coming up with a final order.

In an interview to a private news channel in Raipur just after Diwali (October 24), the governor said he was taking a “second opinion” on the case. He also said it was the Diwali season and an “atomic explosion” cannot be ruled out in the state.

In a letter to ECI on November 7, Soren sought to know if the governor had asked for a second opinion in the case. He also urged the poll watchdog to make the same public, if it was true.

In the 81-member assembly, 49 seats belong to the ruling alliance. Of them, 30 are from JMM, 18 from Congress and one from Rashtriya Janata Dal. The BJP and its ally, All Jharkhand Students Union, have 28 MLAs and there are two independent legislators. A Nationalist Congress Party MLA and a Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) member are supporting the government.

Amidst the prevailing stalemate over continuation of Soren as an MLA, the ruling coalition on August 30 moved the bulk of its lawmakers to a resort in Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh to avert any political crisis.

On September 5, the Jharkhand assembly passed the confidence motion tabled by the ruling coalition, even as the BJP staged a walkout just ahead of the voting.