Jharkhand Governor likely to send Soren's disqualification order to EC

Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais is likely to send the order of disqualification of Chief Minister Hemant Soren as an MLA to the Election Commission of India ECI on Saturday Raj Bhavan sources said Members of the statersquos ruling coalition will gather for the third round of meeting in the morning at the chief ministerrsquos residence in the midst of intense speculation about the political fate of Soren whose assembly membership hangs in balance over a mining lease caseldquoThe governor will sign the disqualification order today and it will be sent to the ECIrdquo a Raj Bhavan source told PTISources in the governorrsquos official residence had on Thursday claimed that the ECI has recommended Sorenrsquos disqualification as an MLA for violating electoral norms by extending a mining lease to himself but there has been no official confirmation yetThe legislators of the ruling JMMCongressRJD coalition who had held marathon meetings on Friday morning and evening will again meet around 11 AM on Saturday to chalk out further strategiesAlso Read Jharkhand mining case ED recovers AK47 during raidSources in the ruling alliance said that strategies were being chalked out to ensure there was no threat to the governmentInsiders in the Congress a crucial ally in the JMMled ruling coalition had said that ldquoringfencingrdquo of MLAs by parking them in a resort in a ldquofriendly staterdquo such as West Bengal Bihar or Chhattisgarh is being considered as an option to prevent legislator poaching by the BJPHowever they said a decision on the future course of action can be taken once the governor communicates to them the ECIrsquos opinion on the possible disqualification of Soren as an MLASoren who was in Latehar on Friday to attend a programme lashed out at the Centre for ldquounleashingrdquo all constitutional agencies to ldquodestabilise a democratically elected governmentrdquoThe Jharkhand Mukti Morcha JMM executive president said ldquosatanic forcesrdquo were all out to execute evil designsHe later tweeted ldquoThe Centre has unleashed all agencies on me after I asked for legitimate Rs 136 lakh crore dues which are pending to the state When they saw that they cannot harm me they are trying to harass lsquoGurujirsquo Shibu Soren who is in a certain age bracket to get to merdquo The BJP the petitioner in the case has sought Sorenrsquos disqualification for violating Section 9A of the Representation of the People Act 1951 which deals with disqualification for government contractsThe clause states that ldquoa 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 the execution of any works undertaken by that governmentrdquoThe issue was referred to the governor and by him to the EC as Article 192 of the Constitution states that on rulings regarding an MLArsquos disqualification the question shall be referred to the governor who in turn ldquoshall obtain the opinion of the Election Commission and shall act according to such opinionrdquoAlso Read In dry Jrsquokhand farmers struggling to feed familyThe ruling coalition has 49 MLAs in the 81member AssemblyThe JMM the largest party has 30 MLAs the Congress 18 legislators and the RJD one The main opposition BJP has 26 MLAs in the HouseThe coalition partners had on Thursday claimed that there was no threat to the governmentThe JMM had exuded confidence that Soren will remain the chief minister for full term till 2024This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever