Ranchi: All eyes will be on state assembly speaker Dinesh Oraon on Wednesday evening when he will pronounce judgement in the case of defection of six MLAs of Jharkhand Vikas Morcha – Prajatantrik (JVM-P) to the ruling BJP in 2015.R N Sahay, the advocate of JVM-P appearing in the case, told TOI that the speaker’s court has informed them through a notice that the judgement will be pronounced at 3.30 pm on February 20. He added, “In all, there were over 60 hearings over a four-year period in the case and 58 witnesses were examined.”The case was taken up in February 2015 after JVM-P chief Babulal Marandi and the party’s chief general secretary Pradeep Yadav had written two separate letters to the speaker accusing the six MLAs of anti-party activity which violated the 10th Schedule of the Constitution. The MLAs who defected to the ruling party are Navin Jaiswal (Hatia), Amar Kumar Bauri (Chandankyari), Randhir Kumar Singh (Sarath), Ganesh Ganjhu (Simaria), Alok Kumar Chaurasia (Daltonganj) and Janki Yadav (Barkattha).Hearing Marandi’s plea, Oraon had passed an interim order, supporting the move of the MLAs’ prima facie request to allow them sit in the treasury bench. JVM-P had also filed a writ petition against the six MLAs in the Jharkhand high court in the same year. The party had won eight assembly seats in the 2014 polls.The JVM-P camp is waiting with bated breath for Wednesday’s judgement. The party’s spokesperson Yogendra Pratap Singh said: “The case has been heard for four years and it’s time for the judgement. We are hopeful that it will be in our favour.” The BJP, on the other hand, maintained a guarded approach on the eve of judgement. “We are waiting for the verdict to be announced and hopeful that justice will be done,” BJP spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo said.The speaker will pronounced the verdict months ahead of the parliamentary elections and the state assembly election slated later this year. The verdict, even if it is against the MLAs, will not hurt the ruling NDA in terms of numbers. In the 81-member assembly, BJP has 43 seats (including the six defected MLAs) and enjoys support of four MLAs of Ajsu-P. Currently, the half-way mark for majority is 38.

Stay updated with all the Latest Ranchi headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.