Jharkhand: court allows former CM Hemant Soren to participate in trust vote, floor test on Monday

A special court in Ranchi on Saturday allowed former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren to participate in the trust vote in the state assembly on February 5.

Soren, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday in a money laundering case, filed a petition before the special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court, seeking permission to participate in the trust vote sought by the new government.

He was remanded to ED custody for five days by the court on Friday.

Soren pleaded before the court that he is a member of the assembly and has a right to participate in the special session.

"Applicant (Soren) is, therefore, filing the present Application seeking an order from this Hon'ble Court to permit the Applicant to attend the Special Session of the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly and participate in the proceedings of the Floor Test slated for February 5 at 11 AM," the petition said.

The new government led by Champai Soren has earlier sought the floor test to prove its majority in the House. He took over as the chief minister after Hemant Soren was arrested.

Advocate General Rajeev Ranjan told PTI that the ED vehemently objected to the petition.

"We said now the cat is out of the bag, and the purpose of the ED is not to do any investigation but to scuttle the formation of a new government or to bring down the government. They have no business to object to proceedings of the assembly when he is not interfering with the investigation. Therefore, the court has accepted our petition and our petition has been allowed," he said.

Meanwhile the special PMLA court did not allow Hemant Soren to stay in jail at night on security concerns.

Advocate General Singh said "stay (night stay in jail) has not been allowed...".

Hemant Soren had also moved the Supreme Court, challenging his arrest. The top court on Friday refused to interfere with his arrest and asked him to approach the high court.

The alliance, between the JMM, Congress and RJD, has 47 MLAs in the 81-member Jharkhand assembly and is supported from outside by the lone CPIML (L) legislator.