VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, March 28: MLA Bandhu Tirkey on Monday joined the league of politicians of Jharkhand who lost membership of the House at different points in time following their conviction in criminal cases. He became the sixth member of the disqualified league. The special CBI court of Prabhat Kumar Sharma in Ranchi convicted Bandhu Tirkey with three years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs three lakh in the disproportionate asset case.
As per July 2013 rulings of the Supreme Court and Representation of Peoples Act, if a public representative is convicted by the court in a criminal case for two years or more, he or she will lose membership of the House. The law says that such convicts shall continue to be disqualified for a further period of six years since their release.
The case against him RC 5 (A)/ 2010 dates back to the period when he was an MLA from 2005 and 2009 and subsequently held the portfolio of the HRD for a brief period in the government led by Madhu Koda. He was charged with possessing dipropionate assets. The CBI filed a charge sheet for possessing properties worth Rs 7.22 lakh which was 30 percent more than the known source of his income. Bandhu is the second minister of the then Madhu Koda government who was convicted as sitting MLA. Notably, Madhu Koda is himself facing a similar disqualification.
The then JVM MLA from Dhanwar, Nizamuddin Ansari, was the first MLA of the Jharkhand assembly who was disqualified nearly a year after his conviction. On November 30, 2013, he was convicted with two years of imprisonment by a court of Giridih. But the assembly secretariat was unaware of his conviction since neither the MLA nor Giridih district administration informed the assembly secretariat. Ansari resigned as MLA on November 11, 2014, barely a fortnight before the assembly poll. But when he filed his nominations as the JMM candidate, the returning officer rejected his nominations on the grounds of his conviction. After the news was published, the Speaker took suo moto cognizance and canceled his membership effective from the date of his conviction.
The then Lohardaga MLA of the Ajsu Party Kamal Kishore Bhagat lost membership on June 23, 2015. The court awarded him seven years of jail on the charge of an attempt to murder. The case was filed against him by noted neurologist KK Sinha.
JMM’s Gomia MlA Yogendra Mahto was the third politician who was disqualified on January 31, 2018, after he was convicted in a case related to coal theft in Ramgarh.
Another JMM politician Amit Mahto lost membership on March 23, 2018, the day Rajya Sabha election took place in Jharkhand. The court sentenced him to two years of jail in an assault case. He represented the Silli assembly seat. Jharkhand Party president and Kolebira MLA, Enos Ekka was disqualified on June 30, 2018. He was convicted on the charge of murdering a para teacher during the 2014 election.
