Basant set to reply to EC notice today

Ranchi: Dumka legislator Basant Soren is all set to file his response to the Election Commission of India-slapped notice in the alleged office-of-profit case, well-placed party sources said.
“He has prepared his reply to the show cause notice and will be submitting the same to the EC on Friday,” said a senior JMM leader when asked when Basant, the younger brother of Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren would file his response.
Basant ,43, was directed by the EC to submit his reply to the show-cause notice by May 13. He was not available for comments on the development.
On May 5, a special team of EC had arrived at Ranchi and travelled to Dumka by road to hand over a copy of the notice to Basant at his Khijuria residence.
In the notice, which was issued to him based on a March 25 complaint by BJP, the EC had asked Basant as to why he should not be disqualified from the Jharkhand assembly under Section 9A of the People’s Representation Act of 1951 for entering into a mining lease agreement with the district mining officer of Pakur through the West Bengal-based M/S Chandra Stone Works, of which he is a partner.
The Jharkhand government had earlier sent necessary documents pertaining to the mining lease agreement to the EC.
CM Hemant Soren will also rope in Congress leaders Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Kapil Sibal to provide legal assistance to him in his office-of-profit case following the EC’s show-cause notice.
JMM spokesperson Manoj Pandey said, “It is quite obvious that the CM would look for accomplished lawyers to defend his case and seek legal assistance whenever required. Both of them have represented the Jharkhand government in the Supreme Court on quite a few occasions.”