Hemant Soren asks Guv for clarity on EC note, calls special session

Jharkhand’s ruling coalition met governor Ramesh Bais on Thursday and asked him to clear the air on a confidential Election Commission (EC) report on chief minister Hemant Soren’s assembly membership, a week after Raj Bhavan received the sealed envelope that triggered a political crisis in the state.

Separately, the alliance also announced a set of decisions aimed at preparing for any political instability, boosting its popularity, and showcasing its strength in the assembly. This included the announcement of a special session, the implementation of an old pension scheme popular with government servants, and the decision to hire chartered aircraft for a month.

Soren’s position as a lawmaker is under a cloud. On August 25, EC sent a report to Bais ostensibly recommending Soren’s disqualification from the assembly over allegations that he illegally received a mining licence. The governor has since made no statement about it even as speculation has mounted and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has demanded Soren’s resignation.

“With a heavy heart, we request your excellency to clear air which will not only put at rest the confusion but also end efforts to destabilise the democratically elected government by illicit means. We request you to declare the opinion (if received) from the Election Commission forthwith,” read the memorandum handed over by the 10-member delegation to Bias.

“Selective leaks from Raj Bhavan are unfortunate and creating a state of chaos, confusion and uncertainty which vitiates the administration...” the memorandum added.

Raj Bhawan said it will soon decide on the matter. “A delegation of the UPA met the governor today and discussed about office-of-profit issue and the ECI opinion on membership of the chief minister. The delegation requested the governor to make things clear on the issue. The governor assured the delegation that he would soon take adequate measure on the issue,” a statement said.

In the 81-member assembly, 49 belong to the ruling alliance. Of them, 30 are from the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, 18 from the Congress and one from the Rashtriya Janata Dal. The Bharatiya Janata Party (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.

The development came two days after the coalition sequestered the bulk of its lawmakers, 31, in a resort in Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh. On Wednesday, four Congress lawmakers flew back to Ranchi for a cabinet meeting while a RJD member joined the legislators at the resort.

The crisis began last Thursday after the EC sent a report in a sealed envelope sent to Bais, who had sought the poll watchdog’s advice after the BJP sought action against the CM for allegedly holding an “office of profit” — in this case, a mining licence.

It was unclear whether EC also recommended that Soren be barred from further contesting elections for a specific time period. Since then, the contents of the tightly guarded letter have not been made public and the governor has not spoken about his impending decision even as the BJP demanded Soren’s resignation.

Soren and the JMM have rejected all charges.

Later in the day, the cabinet under Soren’s chairmanship decided to hold a one-day assembly session in which the ruling alliance leaders said there could be show of strength, discussion on the political situation arising out of the EC letter, and finalisation of cut-off date to decide the contentious domicile policy. “When we have a day-long session, we can bring certain issues and proposal that could require voting. Other important political issues will also be discussed,” said a senior minister, who participated in the cabinet meeting, requesting anonymity.

The cabinet also decided to hire a chopper to “ferry VIPs” from within and outside the state for one month at the cost of ₹2.6 crore, which political observers said could be used to ferry lawmakers to Chhattisgarh or elsewhere, and implement the old pension scheme (OPS), which provides for assured pension income for all state government employees immediately.

Briefing reporters, cabinet secretary Vandana Dadel said, “The cabinet has given its nod to extend the ninth session of the fifth assembly which was adjourned sine die on August 5 by one day on September 5, 2022.”

Dadel said the cabinet approved proposal to hire an eight-seater plane for movement of ‘VIPs and VVIPs’ to and from the state for a month. “Its service started from August 31 and it would continue for a month. The service for the charter plane with a setting capacity of eight plus two would cost ₹2.06 crore,” she added.

This comes a day after four ministers -- Alamgir Alam, Badal Patralekh, Banna Gupta and Rameshwar Oraon -- returned to Ranchi to attend the scheduled cabinet meeting. They are likely to go back to Chhattisgarh before the start of the session, probably by Sunday.

The BJP criticised the decisions. “This government came to power with the agenda of giving employment and improving economic condition of the adivasis (tribals) and moolvasis (original inhabitants). However, they are now busy improving their own lifestyle,” said Jharkhand BJP spokesperson Pratul Shadeo.

The old pension scheme for government employees was discontinued in the country from April 1, 2004 and the new National Pension Scheme (NPS) was implemented. Around 150,000 state government employees are likely to benefit from the decision to revive the old scheme, officials said. Employee associations argue that under the old scheme, they used to get 50% of the last-drawn salary as pension every month, whereas in the new scheme, the pension amount is dependent on stock market. Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh governments have already announced implementation of the old pension scheme.

Jharkhand goes to the polls next year.

A senior cabinet minister familiar with the discussion said the government could come up with proposal to fix a new cut-off date for deciding the domicile of the state in the one-day assembly session. The issue is a political hot potato and has sparked controversy previously. When 1985 was fixed as cut-off date by the previous BJP government led by Raghuabar Das for determining the domicile status in the state in 2016, the JMM made it a poll issue and promised to fix 1932 as the cut-off date, making elections difficult for the BJP. However, the current JMM leadership has been working on a date that could be more workable as the last land survey was done in different years for different districts.

Jharkhand’s political crisis has its genesis in February, when the BJP submitted a memorandum to the governor seeking Soren’s disqualification and alleging 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.

The BJP argued that Soren had broken the office of profit rules — which mean to prevent conflict of interest for parliamentarians and state lawmakers — and therefore, should be disqualified under Section 9(A) of Representation of People’s Act, 1952. According to Section 9A, ”A person shall be disqualified if, and for so long as, there subsists a contract entered into by him in the course of his trade or business with the appropriate Government for the supply of goods to, or for execution of any works by that government.’’

Soren argued that holding a mining lease was out of the purview of the office of profit rules and that the lease for the 0.88 acre parcel of land was originally granted to him for 10 years on May 17, 2008, when he didn’t hold the CM’s post. He had applied for renewal of the lease in 2018, but the application had lapsed.