VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, April 5: Jharkhand Assembly Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahto is scheduled to hear a batch of petitions on May 6, challenging the merger of the JVM with the BJP by Babulal Marandi.
The timing of the hearing has aroused curiosity since chief minister Hemant Soren and his MLA brother Basant Soren are facing an imminent threat of disqualification in the matter related to the office of profit. The Election Commission of India has already issued notices to them under provisions of the People’s Representation Act. A senior official of the assembly said that holding the court was a routine matter and the case is at the nascent stage.
The office of the Assembly Speaker has directed the establishment section of the assembly secretariat to make necessary arrangements to conduct a virtual hearing of the case. The notification further reads that the next hearing would take place on May 9.
The petition was jointly filed by MLA Rajkumar Yadav (CPI-ML), Dipika Pandey Singh (Congress), Bhushan Tirkey (JMM), Pradeep Yadav (treated as an independent), and Bandhu Tirkey who recently lost his membership following his conviction in the corruption case.
Marandi, earlier heading the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) had won three seats in the assembly elections held in December 2019. On February 11, 2020, he merged his party with the BJP and he was declared the leader of its legislature fold. While Marandi joined the BJP, the two other JVM (P) MLAs, Pradeep Yadav and Bandhu Tirkey who were dismissed from the party on different occasions joined the Congress.
The Election Commission of India notified the merger of JVM (P) with the BJP. But it did not recognize the merger of Pradeep Yadav and Bandhu Tirkey in the Congress. During the Rajya Sabha election, they voted as independents.
