Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren can move the apex court seeking its intervention to direct the  Election Commission (EC) to disclose the opinion shared with the state Governor in his disqualification matter against him.

“We are exploring legal ways to know the details of the EC’s opinion on disqualification matter against the CM”, said a source connected with the CM, Jharkhand.

If this turns out to be true, the CM can gain ground by accusing the EC and Governor of Jharkhand to keep the case linked with his alleged “ disqualification” case a secret matter.

-----------------------------Advertisement------------------------------------Abua Awas Yojna 

The CM was entitled to approach the Supreme Court since his applications to EC and Governor, Jharkhand had turned down his request to disclose its opinion shared with the state Governor.

As per records, Soren’s legal counsel had written to the EC on September 15 stating that the hearings held before the poll panel were judicial in nature, so a copy of the opinion tendered to Governor Ramesh Bais should be shared with his client.

In its reply, EC said any communication between the EC and Governor is “privileged” under Article 192 (2) of the Constitution and revealing it before an order is passed by the Governor would amount to a “breach of constitutional propriety”.

The EC, according to The Indian Express,” have cited a recent case before the Supreme Court (DD Thaisii Vs Election Commission of India) regarding the EC’s opinion on a complaint seeking disqualification of 12 BJP MLAs from the Manipur Assembly. In this matter, the EC has said, the apex court did not order it to disclose its opinion after the counsel for the poll panel informed the court that disclosure of privileged communication would be improper.”

must read