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Speaker suspends 17 BJP MLAs from Jharkhand Assembly

Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahto suspended 17 BJP MLAs from the Jharkhand Assembly's Monsoon Session after a 24-hour protest demanding answers from Chief Minister Hemant Soren on unfulfilled 2019 election promises.

News Arena Network - Ranchi - UPDATED: August 1, 2024, 02:07 PM - 2 min read

Speaker suspends 17 BJP MLAs from Jharkhand Assembly

JP MLAs sit in protest outside the Jharkhand Assembly building, demanding responses from Chief Minister Hemant Soren on unfulfilled promises from the 2019 elections.

After a more than 24-hour-long protest by BJP legislators, the Speaker of the Jharkhand Assembly, Rabindra Nath Mahto, today suspended 17 BJP MLAs from the Monsoon Session until 2 PM on Friday, August 2.

This day marks the last day of the session and the final session of the State Assembly before the upcoming Assembly elections.

Even before the proceedings of the House started, BJP MLAs began protesting in the Assembly.

They raised strong slogans against the Hemant Soren-led government in the State, seeking responses from Soren on several promises made by the coalition in the 2019 elections.

While suspending the MLAs, Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahto told the House that the conduct of the legislators was not in accordance with the House's decorum.

The opposition MLAs demanded that the Chief Minister make a statement on employment and unemployment allowance in the House on Wednesday.

However, when they did not receive a reply to their questions, they entered the well of the House and continued to protest even after the Assembly was adjourned for the day.

The MLAs remained in the well of the House until 10 PM without lights and air conditioning, as the electricity was cut off. Later, they were marshalled out of the House.

The MLAs spent the entire night in the lobby of the State Assembly and resumed their protest on Thursday morning.

The list of suspended MLAs includes Pushpa Devi, Neera Yadav, Aparna Sengupta, CP Singh, Bhanu Pratap Shahi, Randhir Singh, Alok Chaurasia, Kishun Das, Kushwaha Shashibhushan Mehta, Samari Lal, Anant Ojha, Raj Sinha, Narayan Das, Kedar Hazra, Koche Munda, Amit Mandal, and Biranchi Narayan.

After the suspension of the MLAs, Leader of Opposition Amar Bauri said that the Speaker had "murdered democracy in broad daylight" in the House.

He claimed that the Speaker's behavior, influenced by the state government and on the instructions of JMM, was autocratic and without any fault on the part of the MLAs.

He also alleged that journalists were prevented from entering the House to report on this "dark chapter" in the State Assembly.