The Champai Soren-led alliance government survived floor test as it secured support from 47 MLAs, garnering 6 more than the halfway mark. 29 votes were cast against the JMM-led coalition government in the state.
The recent political crises was triggered after Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case, hours after he resigned from the post of Chief Minister of the state. However, despite being in the agency’s custody, the court had allowed him to attend the trust vote.
Champai Soren had moved the confidence motion in the 81-member state Assembly after the JMM chief was arrested on 31st January. When Hemant Soren was the CM, Champai Soren was the state transport minister. He had staked claim to form the government and was appointed Chief Minister by the Governor on 2nd February.
Prior to the trust vote, CM Champai Soren had lauded Hemant Soren and claimed him as a victim of a witch hunt. On his term, Hemant Soren also played himself a victim of Centre’s so-called vendetta politics while portraying it as a harassment of the “tribal”.
Earlier, a section of the Legislators registered a protest against Jharkhand Governor CP Radhakrishnan’s speech prior to the floor test. When the Former Jharkhand Chief Minister, who was arrested by the ED, came inside the assembly, he was welcomed by some JMM MLAs who raised slogans of ‘Hemant Soren Zindabad’.
The Jharkhand Assembly which has a total strength of 81 seats, has 41 as the halfway mark. Prior to the floor test, the JMM-led coalition had a comfortable majority with 48 MLAs, including 29 from JMM, 17 from Congress, and one each from RJD and CPI(ML).
Contrarily, the NDA had support of 29 MLAs, with BJP having 26 seats and AJSU having 3. The remaining 3 seats belonged to Independents and others.
Fearing cross voting and internal power struggle owing to the ongoing political crises in the state, the coalition MLAs of the ruling alliance were taken to Hyderabad. The MLAs spent the weekend at Leonia Resort under tight security and were inaccessible to outsiders and other guests of the resort.