Assessing EC’s office-of-profit report about Jharkhand Governor Hemant Soren

In an office-of-profit lawsuit against Chief Minister Hemant Soren over the granting of a stone mining license to him, Governor C P Radhakrishnan said on Monday that Raj Bhavan is reviewing the Election Commission’s findings. In August of last year, the Election Commission gave forth its proposal.

Speaking with the media during the Center’s Viksit Bharat event at Raj Bhawan, the Governor went on to say that those who have committed crimes and been proven guilty would suffer the consequences.

Notably, on February 10, last year, a BJP delegation headed by former chief minister Raghubar Das met with then-Governor Ramesh Bais and presented a memorandum demanding CM Soren’s disqualification and removal, accusing him of breaking section 9A of The Representation of the People Act, 1951, a constitutional provision. The BJP delegation said that Soren violated office of profit regulations in 2021 when he awarded a stone chips mining lease to himself while leading the mining department.

Governor Bais took notice of the situation and sent the papers to ECI for their opinion, which he got on August 25. The Election Commission made its suggestion in August of last year, but neither the current governor, CP Radhakrishnan, nor the governor at the time, Ramesh Bais, have released it.

As per Radhakrishnan, “There exist certain challenges. That is something we must and will experience.