RANCHI: What is Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s actual age? 47? 49? Does it matter anyway?If you were to go by the sworn affidavit he submitted to the Election Commission on December 12, 2019 while filing his nomination papers for the Jharkhand assembly polls, he should be 47 now because he had claimed he was 42 at that point in time.But in the affidavit he filed on October 24 this year for contesting from the Barhait constituency, he mentioned his age as 49.Election affidavits are filed with the utmost care because false declarations could end up in the candidate’s disqualification. While the BJP predictably went for his jugular and sought legal action, the Congress, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s (JMM) ally, played it safe, saying it needs verification. However, the JMM was confident that the affidavit was kosher.As for Chief Electoral Officer K Ravi Kumar, whose personnel scrutinised Soren’s latest affidavit, he said no complaint on the matter has reached his office yet. The electoral officer of Barhait has the right to take a decision on the matter, he said, adding that the nomination process and its scrutiny are already over. As such, if there is any complaint, it can be resolved through legal process, he added. The BJP’s former state chief Deepak Prakash said, “appropriate legal action should be taken against Hemant Soren as law is equal to everyone in this country.”Ghulam Ahmad Mir, Congress in-charge for the state, however, said, “It is subject to verification… It would be inappropriate to comment on anything without checking the facts.”JMM spokesperson Manoj Pandey dismissed the allegations as baseless.
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