Will they, or won’t theyIJ It was the question on all of Jharkhand’s lips but it saw a simple answer on Thursday. All MlAs whose presence was required in House for trust vote turned up, though not without consequences.
Jama MlA Sita Soren was granted bail by Argora Police Station a few hours before voting, according to directions of the Supreme Court. Nalin Soren appeared just before the voting at around 4.20 pm after surrendering before the Vigilance Bureau.Speaker CP Singh also allowed Congress MlA Sawana lakra — convicted by a Ranchi court in connection with a murder — to vote, despite strong objections raised by leader of Opposition Arjun Munda.
Sita Soren was granted bail in the abduction case of Vikas Pandey, a key witness in the horse-trading case of the 2012 Rajya Sabha elections. According to her advocate Krishna Murari, she was given bail after directive issued by the Supreme Court under Article 142 of the Constitution.
The CBI, which was in search of Sita for quite some time, did not try to take her into custody.“The CBI court has already issued her summons to appear by July 21. So, we are not in a hurry. Three prime accused have already been arrested,” said a CBI official. As for Nalin, ADG (Vigilance) Neeraj Sinha said, “According to the Supreme Court directive, the JMM MlA wanted in the seed scam surrendered before the investigating officer and was taken to the Assembly.”
Soren however, could not be produced before the Special (Vigilance) Court on Thursday and was handed over to the district police. “He will be produced in court on Friday,” Sinha added.Soren approached the apex court on Thursday after the Jharkhand High Court rejected his plea for a stay on the non-bailable warrant against him. A Bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir accepted Soren’s plea for participating in the trust vote after his counsel Devdutt Kamath said the MlA was ready to surrender.
The leader of the Opposition opposed the Speaker’s permission to lakra to vote, citing a recent Supreme Court judgement that bars persons in lawful custody — whether convicted in a criminal case or otherwise — from contesting elections or voting.The Speaker, however, overruled Munda’s objection, saying Advocate General Sohail Anwar felt lakra was entitled to exercise his voting right in the House.