Jharkhand Assembly Speaker Rabindranath Mahto on Thursday disqualified two MLAs- Lobin Hembrom and JP Patel- under the Anti-defection law for ‘shifting loyalties to other parties.
The Speaker who is head of the speaker tribunal issued the order after hearing the petitions against them for merely two days, comes a day ahead of the Budget session of the Assembly.
The JMM petitioned against Lobin Hembrom after he fought the Lok Sabha election from Raajmahal as an independent against the party’s official nominee Vijay Hansda.
The BJP complained against Patel after he joined the Congress and fought the Lok Sabha election from Hazaribagh. Incidentally, both lost the Lok Sabha elections.
The chief of the tribunal of the Jharkhand Assembly is Speaker passed the verdict disqualifying JMM MLA Lobin Hembrom from Borio and BJP MLA turned Congress leader JP Patel from Mandu.
Hembrom is three times JMM’s member of the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly from the Borio constituency in Sahibganj district in 2000 - 2004, 2009 - 2013,and 2019 -2023.
He has been critical of Chief Minister Hemant Soren. Another disqualified MLA is JP Patel. He was elected to the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly from Mandu as a member of the Bharatiya Janta Party in 2019.
However, Patel, a son of late MLA, Tek Lal Mahto, had left Bharatiya Janata Party and joined Indian National Congress on March 20, 2024. The Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahto made public the Tribunal’s verdict was made public on Thursday, July 25.
Both MLAs were facing the charge for defection under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution. Speaker Rabindranath Mahato delivered the verdict, canceling the membership of both MLAs under the anti-defection law.
Meanwhile, in other development Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahto on July 25 convened an all-party meeting to ensure the smooth functioning of the House during the upcoming Monsoon session, scheduled to commence on July 26 and conclude on August 2.
This session marks the final assembly gathering before the state heads into elections later this year.
This session marks the final assembly gathering before the state heads into elections later this year.
Present at the meeting were Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Minister Rameshwar Oraon, AJSU Party legislator Lambodar Mahto, and CPI(ML) Liberation legislator Vinod Singh.
However, the BJP was notably absent, with Speaker Mahto mentioning that Ranchi MLA CP Singh arrived late, speculating that he might have been designated as the party’s representative.
The speaker also said that the last session of the ongoing assembly will have smooth conduct of the proceedings. "I expect smooth conduct of the proceedings in the last session of the ongoing assembly," he said. Regarding frequent disruptions in the House, Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahto remarked that such incidents are a regular part of proceedings,” added the Speaker.
