Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren seeks copy of governor’s letter to EC on second opinion in office-of-profit case

RANCHI: Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren has urged the Election Commission (EC) to hand him over a copy of Jharkhand governor Ramesh Bais’ letter to the election panel allegedly seeking a second opinion in the office-of-profit case against him.
Soren’s party Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Monday released a copy of the letter which was sent by Soren’s advocate Vaibhav Tomar to the EC on October 31. The letter was released hours before BJP’s due protests against the Soren government, which is due to take place across Jharkhand later in the day.
Bais, on October 27 in Raipur, had stated that he has sought a second opinion regarding the office of profit case and stated that an “atom bomb” could explode in Jharkhand anytime soon.

Referring to the governor’s claims, Soren’s counsel, who wrote he was concerned, stated that the CM did not receive any communication from the EC in this regard.
Notably, EC had begun hearing in the office-of-profit case against Soren for allegedly obtaining the lease of a black stone quarry in Ranchi’s Angara block by misusing his offices of the CM and mines minister. The complaint was lodged by the BJP in February this year. The EC had sought relevant documents from the petitioners, defendant and the state government in May and allegedly delivered its opinion to Bais on August 25.
Soren, through his counsels, had in September had sought a copy of EC’s opinion. The EC however declined.

“In these circumstances, without any prejudice to my client’s rights including but not limited to the validity/maintainablity of the second opinion sought by the honorable governor, on my behalf of my client (,) I call upon you to furnish my client a copy of the request for opinion received by you from the honorable governor of Jharkhand,” Tomar’s undersigned letter read.
Soren’s counsel also wrote that he expected the EC, being a constitutional body, will not tender any opinion “pursuant to the second request made by the governor without affording him a fair and effective hearing.
JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya said, “The CM’s counsel apprehended that the EC might give in to political pressure from the BJP and not deliver a free and impartial hearing.”