Technically, Mahto lost his Assembly membership after the verdict, but the Assembly secretariat would notify the termination order after formally receiving the ruling. Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha secretary Vinay Kumar Singh said action would be taken only after going through the court order. Shedding light on the verdict, Jharkhand High Court senior advocate Rajeev Kumar said, "Mahto lost his Assembly membership under Section 8 of Representation of the People Act, 1951. "All charges are related to coal theft. Mahto is Jharkhand's second MLA, after Ajsu MLA Kamal Kishore Bhagat, to lose Assembly membership after conviction of two or more years in a criminal case.

Source: The Telegraph January 31, 2018 21:11 UTC