Jharkhand Speaker Disqualifies 2 MLAs Under Anti-Defection Law

Ranchi

A tribal MLA from the JMM and a Kurmi MLA from the BJP were disqualified as members of the Jharkhand Assembly by Speaker Ravindra Nath Mahto’s tribunal on Thursday. The six-day monsoon session of the Jharkhand Assembly begins on Friday.

JMM MLA from Boriyo Lobin Hembrom and BJP MLA from Mandu Jai Prakash Bhai Patel were disqualified under the provisions of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution. They will cease to function as law makers from Friday (July 26). This is for the first time that the Jharkhand Assembly has taken such a tough measure.

Mahto began his political ventures in the JMM and was earlier a Minister too in the JMM rule. His father late Teklal Mahto was a JMM heavyweight and his father-in-law Mathura Prasad Mahto is still a JMM top notch.

However, Patel walked into the BJP fold in 2019 and went on to become an MLA from Mandu again. But just ahead of the recent Lok Sabha elections, he walked into the Congress fold without quitting his Assembly membership and unsuccessfully contested the Hazaribagh Lok Sabha seat.

BJP legislature party leader and Leader of Opposition in Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha Amar Kumar Bauri had, subsequently, lodged a complaint against him in the Speaker’s court.

For his part, Lobin Hembrom too has been a JMM heavyweight and was also once a close aide of party supremo Shibu Soren. But, after Hemant took over the command, he was often at loggerheads with him.

Rebelling against the party, Hembrom unsuccessfully contested the Rajmahal ST Lok Sabha seat as an Independent against the JMM’s official candidate Vijay Hansdak. And enraged Shibu Soren then ordered his expulsion from the JMM and also lodged a complaint in the Speaker’s tribunal.

Incidentally, another JMM MLA from Bishunpur Chamra Linda too had defied his party dikat and unsuccessfully contested the Lohardaga Lok Sabha seat. But, the JMM did not urge the Speaker to dismiss Linda, apparently because he had locked horns with a Congress candidate.

Update

CM Naidu for 100 pc reservation to STs in tribal areas

In line with his election promise last year, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has said that his government was exploring ways to provide 100 percent reservation in Government jobs to locals in all the tribal areas of the State. In a review meeting on Tribal Welfare, there were discussions on steps to be taken to restore the GO No 3 which was struck down in 2020 by the Supreme Court. The GO issued in 2000 provided that all posts of teachers in the schools in the Scheduled Areas of the state will be filled only by the local Scheduled Tribe candidates. Outlining the history of reservation for tribals, Naidu noted that a 1986 GO had initially provided 100% quota for local tribals in teacher posts in agency areas. Legal challenges later prompted the issuance of GO No. 3 in 2000, which accounted for increased women’s reservation, and facilitated the allocation of approximately 4,626 teacher posts to tribals in agency areas.