Champai Soren government wins trust vote in Jharkhand Assembly

In a significant development, the Champai Soren government in Jharkhand won the trust vote in the assembly on Monday, with 47 votes cast in favour and 29 against. The number of seats required for majority as per the current strength of the Assembly and the number of MLAs present in the house, is 40.

During governor C. P. Radhakrishnan’s nearly 35-minute address before voting, Congress and JMM (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha) MLAs continuously raised slogans in support of Hemant Soren.

Before the address commenced, Congress MLA Pradeep Yadav alleged that the people's elected government in Jharkhand has been "deposed" at the behest of the Central government.

Former CM and Barhait MLA Hemant Soren was also present in the Assembly during voting. The speaker of the house had allotted a seat for him in the front row designated for the state's ruling JMM-led alliance. While a special court allowed Hemant Soren to be present in the house for an hour, he was not permitted to speak to media.

The JMM's Ramdas Soren could not attend the floor test as he was ill. Sita Soren, Lobin Hembram and Chamra Linda — three reportedly disgruntled MLAs of the ruling coalition — also voted in favour of the government.

The coalition had earlier sent its MLAs to a resort in Hyderabad for three days to keep them united, and to apparently prevent any attempts at 'poaching' by the opposition BJP. The MLAs returned to Ranchi on Sunday evening, and reached the Assembly together on Monday.

Following the trust vote, proceedings of the House were adjourned until Tuesday, the final day of the two-day special session of the Assembly.