HYDERABAD: Telangana is set to face another election soon as Telangana high court on Friday disqualified Danam Nagender as the MLA of Khairatabad assembly constituency.A bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin declared “Respondent 2 (Nagender) stands disqualified from April 23, 2024 as a member of Telangana Legislative Assembly, having contested as a candidate set up by Congress party for Secunderabad constituency in the Lok Sabha elections 2024 despite being a member of BRS party; as a result thereof, the said seat is rendered vacant.” April 23, 2024 is the date when the Lok Sabha election was held.The bench further declined Nagender’s counsel’s request to keep the order in abeyance to allow them to appeal the disqualification order, keeping in view the interests of the constituency.“The copy of the order may be communicated to the Secretary, to the Assembly Speaker and also to the Election Commission,” said the bench.The bench passed the orders while allowing petitions filed by MLAs Alleti Maheshwar Reddy of BJP (Nirmal) and Padi Kaushik Reddy of BRS (Huzurabad) challenging the decision of Assembly Speaker dismissing disqualification petitions against Nagender, and set aside Speaker’s decision.The MLAs had originally filed a disqualification petition before the Speaker, alleging that Nagender defected to the Congress party after being elected as an MLA on a BRS ticket and subsequently contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as a Congress candidate.Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar dismissed the petitions citing lack of evidence.Challenging this decision before the high court, the MLAs alleged that the Speaker “committed significant jurisdictional errors” in the dismissal. They urged the court to set aside the Speaker’s decision and disqualify Nagender as an MLA under the anti-defection provisions of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.Meanwhile, petitions challenging Speaker’s decision dismissing disqualification petitions against nine other MLAs who won on a BRS ticket and later defected into the ruling Congress are also pending before the high court.BRS working president and former Minister KT Rama Rao welcomed the verdict. ” Satyameva Jayate !!BRS MLA Danam Nagendar who defected to Congress got disqualified by the Hon’ble High Court todayThe rest of the defectors will also meet the same fate soon,” he posted on X.
