Confidence vote in Jharkhand Assembly tomorrow

Chief Minister Hemant Soren, heading a JMM-Congress coalition government with support of independents, will move a confidence vote in the 82-member Jharkhand Assembly tomorrow.

The Chief Minister would table the vote of confidence, an official release said.

Soren, who took oath as the head of the coalition government on July 13, had submitted a list of 43 supporting MLAs to Governor Syed Ahmed on July 9.

JMM with 18 MLAs has the support of 13 members from Congress, five from RJD, one each from Marxist Coordination Committee, Jharkhand Janadhikar Manch, Jharkhand Party, Jai Bharat Samanta Party and three independent MLAs.

Two JMM MLAs, Sita Soren and Nalin Soren, facing charges in an abduction case and a seed scam respectively, are absconding.

Congress MLA Sawna Lakra is serving life imprisonment for murdering his grand daughter's boyfriend.

The House also includes a nominated member from the Anglo-Indian community, G J Galstaun, who said he would vote for the opposition.

Speaker C P Singh can vote in case of a tie.

Opposition Jharkhand Vikas Morcha(P) Legislature Party Leader Pradip Yadav said, an MLA, Dhulu Mahto, who is in a Dhanbad jail on charges of snatching, has sought permission from the court to attend tomorrow's session.

The lone CPI (ML-Liberation) MLA, Vinod Kumar Singh said, "I will sit in the opposition and vote against the motion."

The opposition bench in the House has 38 members, including 17 from BJP (excluding the Speaker), 11 from JVM(P), six from AJSU party, two from JD(U), one from CPI (ML-Liberation) and the nominated member.

The official release said the cabinet yesterday added one more sitting to the House on July 25 to accommodate Governor Syed Ahmed's address under Article 176(1).