Amid poaching fears, Soren shifts UPA MLAs to Khunti district: 10 points from Jharkhand

New Delhi, Aug 27: Amid uncertainty over the future of Jharkhand's Chief Minister Hemanth Soren for alleged violation of electoral law, the ruling JMM-Congress government on Saturday shifted UPA MLAs to the Khunti district of Jharkhand to avoid poaching attempts by the BJP.

Jharkhand crisis: Two buses with ruling MLAs leave for unknown destination

The latest development in 10 points:

1. The MLAs led by Soren have reached the Khunti district. The Jharkhand MLAs were shifted from the residence of the CM to Latratu dam in Khunti district while a heavy police force was also deployed in the region.
2. All ministers and MLAs are together. We'll go to other places too, don't know where we will go next. Several things in motion right now: Minister Satyanand Bhokta.
3. The development comes after a marathon third round of meeting of the UPA legislators at the Ranchi residence of Hemanth Soren.
4. In the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly, the ruling alliance has 30 MLAs of the JMM, 18 MLAs of the Congress and one MLA of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
5. There is a speculation that the MLAs will be taken to Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh. Prior to the meeting at Soren's house the Congress Jharkhand president Rajesh Thakur said that all the MLAs have been asked to come prepared.
6. "I have no information about this. MLAs are coming with luggage for the meeting because they have been asked to be ready. We will let you know if MLAs are asked to shift somewhere," Thakur said.
7. In February this year, the BJP submitted a memorandum to the Governor seeking disqualification of Soren from the House under Section 9(A) of the Representation of People's Act. The Governor had forwarded BJP complaint to the ECI and the poll panel in May had issued a notice to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader.
8. Soren has alleged that the EC report was "drafted" by the principal opposition party in Jharkhand, BJP to topple the Jharkhand government.
9. The trail of events gained pace after Nishikant Dubey, BJP Member of Parliament from Godda, Jharkhand, tweeted that a letter from the ECI has reached the Raj Bhavan.
10. The Chief Minister's office released a statement on Thursday after several media reports speculated that the ECI has sent a report to the Governor about Soren's disqualification. "The Chief Minister is apprised of several media reports about ECI sending a report to Honorable Governor -Jharkhand 'apparently recommending his disqualification as an MLA'. No communication in this regard has been received by CMO from either ECI or Governor," read the statement.