Ranchi, Oct 17: Amar Kumar Bauri, the MLA for Chandankyari, has been named by the Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP ) as the party's legislative leader in the Jharkhand Assembly.
On February 24, 2020, Babulal Marandi, the state BJP president and a former chief minister of Jharkhand, was unanimously elected as the leader of the BJP Legislative Party. However, Speaker Rabindranath Mahto did not grant him LoP status because there was an anti-defection petition against him that was still pending in the Speaker's court. On August 30, Mahto adjourned the case and put his order on hold. "I was designated as an observer for the Jharkhand State BJP Legislative Party leadership election by BJP National President Jagat Prakash Nadda... He received our report that we turned in.
Choubey had previously met with party officials and employees in July in his capacity as an observer to decide on the matter of the BJP's new leader in the Jharkhand Assembly. "I went to the state BJP office in Ranchi and held a meeting with MLAs and I also took the opinion of each one separately," said Choubey. In July, Marandi took over as the Jharkhand BJP President, succeeding Rajya Sabha member Deepak Prakash. The Jharkhand administration had already informed the high court that Marandi could not lead the opposition in the assembly till the defection case against him was resolved.
Advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the state government, stated that Marandi stood as a Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) candidate in the 2019 assembly election and, upon winning, combined his party with the BJP. In the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Marandi, a former minister of state, united his Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) with the BJP on February 17, 2020, in Ranchi. On February 24 of that year, he was unanimously chosen to be the BJP Legislative Party's leader.
Then, Speaker Rabindranath Mahto suo motu filed a complaint against him under the anti-defection statute. In August 2022, he concluded the hearing and put the judgment on hold. The ruling UPA has 47 MLAs in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly: JMM 29, Congress 17, and RJD 1. The AJSU Party has three members, whereas the BJP has 26. There are two Independents in addition to the one lawmaker each for the NCP and CPI (ML).
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