Jharkhand Floor Test Live Updates: Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren passes floor test, gets 45 votes in 76 member assembly

BJP MLAs stage a walkout during division of votes.

Ruling JMM, Congress, and RJD legislators expressed confidence in successfully clearing the floor test but opposition BJP said it would not be easy.

Hemant Soren, the JMM executive president, was sworn in as the 13th chief minister of the state on July 4, a day after his predecessor Champai Soren stepped down from the post.

The new government in Jharkhand, led by Chief Minister Hemant Soren who took the oath of office for the third time on July 4, is likely to expand his cabinet after proving his majority in the special session of the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly today.

On the eve of the crucial floor test of the Hemant Soren-led Jharkhand government on Monday, both the ruling alliance and the opposition held separate meetings to meticulously craft strategies for the special assembly session. While the JMM, Congress, and RJD legislators exuded confidence in securing a successful outcome in the trust vote, opposition BJP asserted that it wouldn't be easy for the ruling alliance.
Following the trust vote, the Soren cabinet is set to be expanded, an MLA said.

"Floor test and cabinet expansion were discussed during the meeting. After the trust vote, the cabinet will be expanded," Poreyahat MLA Pradeep Yadav told reporters on Sunday.

Led by its state president Babulal Marandi, BJP legislative party also convened a meeting.
Secretary of the Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha, Javed Haider, said, “The majority mark in the House is currently 39.”

The 81-member strong state assembly witnessed five resignations in the last month alone after four MLAs (two each from BJP and JMM) were elected to the Lok Sabha while one (JMM’s Sita Soren) resigned before she joined BJP in March this year.

“We are poised to win the floor test convincingly,” said Satish Paul Munjini, spokesperson for the Jharkhand unit of Congress as he pointed out that Hemant had on July 3 staked claim to form the govt before governor C P Radhakrishnan with 44 MLAs.

Hemant Soren was released from the Birsa Munda Jail on June 28 after nearly five months following bail from Jharkhand high court in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam. He had resigned as chief minister before his arrest on January 31.

He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in January on charges related to an alleged land scam and money laundering.

Earlier on December 29, Hemant Soren took the oath as Chief Minister of Jharkhand as the 11th Chief Minister of Jharkhand.

Hemant Soren's return as CM will bolster the JMM, which won three seats in the tribal-dominated state of Jharkhand in the Lok Sabha elections.

In 2019, JMM fought the assembly elections in alliance with the Congress and Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) and got a comfortable majority with forty-seven seats in the 81-member house.

Hemant Soren was granted bail by the Jharkhand High Court on June 28 after spending five months in jail.

Champai Soren resigned from the post just five months after taking the oath, setting the ball rolling for Hemant Soren to again take over the role on Wednesday.

Champai Soren took oath as the 12th Chief Minister of Jharkhand in the Raj Bhavan on February 2 this year.

The new government in Jharkhand, led by chief minister Hemant Soren who took the oath of office for the third time on July 4, is likely to expand his cabinet after proving his majority in the special session of the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly today.

The cabinet expansion of the new government in Jharkhand will take place today.

Of the 76 MLAs, 46 are aligned with the INDIA bloc of JMM, Congress and others, while 30 are with BJP-led NDA.

"We are poised to win the floor test convincingly," said state Congress spokesperson Satish Paul Munjini. He pointed out that when Hemant had staked claim on July 3 to form govt before governor CP Radhakrishnan, he had done so with 44 MLAs.

As the MLAs of JMM, Congress and RJD gathered at Soren's residence on Sunday to chalk out a strategy for the floor test, so did the opposition lawmakers led by BJP state chief Babulal Marandi.

Hemant Soren battened down the hatches on the eve of his floor test as Jharkhand chief minister on Monday, with the numbers seemingly stacked in favour of his JMM-led coalition.

The 48-year-old was sworn in on July 4, within a week of getting bail in a money laundering case tied to an alleged land scam. "The majority mark in the House is currently 39," Javed Haider, secretary of Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha, told TOI ahead of the test.

The 81-member assembly's effective strength is now 76 after four MLAs (two each from BJP and JMM) were elected to the Lok Sabha, and one (JMM's Sita Soren) resigned before joining BJP this March. Sita is Hemant's sister-in-law.