J’khand secy responds to EC notice; governor meets PM Modi, Shah
RANCHI/NEW DELHI: The Jharkhand government has submitted its response to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on the office of profit charge against chief minister Hemant Soren, even as governor Ramesh Bais met Prime Minister Naren- dra Modi and Union home min- ister Amit Shah to apprise them of about the prevailing “political” situation in the state on Wednesday.
The ECI on April 18 had sought a response from the Jharkhand government on an allegation that a mining lease on government land was granted to Soren, who also holds the mining portfolio, last year. The charge, if true, amount to holding an “office of profit” and hence could invite Soren’s disqualification from the legislative assembly under the Representation of People’s Act.
Taking note of a complaint by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the poll body had recently written to state chief secretary Sukhdev Singh seeking “authentication” of the documents related to granting of the mining lease to the chief minister.
According to officials familiar with the matter, Singh submitted an entire set of documents related to the mining lease to the poll body.
An official at the chief election commissioner’s (CEC) office in Delhi, who did not wish to be named, confirmed receiving the “documents related to mining lease of CM Soren” on Wednesday morning.
The state’s response was limited to providing all the paperwork pertaining to the lease and did not go into any explanation on the circumstances surrounding the allocation which was done last year, a second official said on condition of anonymity.
Once the documents are examined, the commission will decide whether a notice for the office of profit can be issued to the chief minister, the first official said.
Meanwhile, Jharkhand governor Bais met Modi and Shah to apprise them of the prevailing “political” situation in the state.
“Besides meeting the Prime Minister, the governor met home minister Amit Shah and apprised him about the developments related to the state,” Raj Bhawan said in a statement.