RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, Sept 5: Five hours after Hemant Soren won a vote of confidence in the Jharkhand assembly a statement from the BJP headquarters came informing that BJP legislator party chief Babulal Marandi had written a letter to the assembly speaker demanding cancellation of the one-day assembly session.
The official information suggests that the letter was written after a meeting of the legislator party under the chairmanship of state president Deepak Prakash in the morning.
Marandi through his letter said that the way one day session has been convened is unconstitutional as under Article 163 of the Constitution, the Hon’ble Chief Minister and the Legislative Council are there to assist and advise the Hon’ble Governor, so the Chief Minister should have given this proposal to the Governor and not to the Speaker.
Marandi said that according to Article 164(2) of the Constitution, only the Governor can order the Council of Ministers to obtain a vote of confidence in the Assembly. The Chief Minister cannot give such a motion to the Speaker without the permission of the Governor.
He said it is clearly mentioned in Article 166 of the Constitution that all the executive proceedings of the State Government shall be in the name of the Governor. Therefore, the proposal sent by the Chief Minister to the Speaker is against Article 163, so it should be rejected by declaring it unconstitutional. The Speaker cannot take cognizance of it under Article 163 of the Constitution, the letter says.
