Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender Disqualified by Telangana High Court

The Telangana High Court disqualified Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender for defection and declared the Assembly seat vacant. Nagender, who won on a BRS ticket, later contested the Lok Sabha polls on a Congress ticket, sparking the legal challenge.

The Telangana High Court Division Bench on Friday disqualified Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender and declared the Assembly seat vacant. The petition was filed by BJP MLA Alleti Maheshwar Reddy and BRS MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy. The court also rejected a plea seeking to keep the order in abeyance to facilitate an appeal before the Supreme Court.

Political Reactions to Disqualification

Reacting to the judgment, BJP leader and advocate K. Karuna Sagar termed it a "strong reaffirmation of the constitutional mandate against defection." Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KTR, in a post on X, wrote, “BRS MLA Danam Nagendar, who defected to Congress, got disqualified by the Hon’ble High Court today. The rest of the defectors will also meet the same fate soon.”

Background of the Controversy

Meanwhile, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader T Harish Rao on March 13 wrote a letter to the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, regarding former BRS MLA Danam Nagender. In his letter, Rao questioned Nagender's decision to contest the Lok Sabha elections using an official B-Form issued by the Indian National Congress.

In his letter, Rao criticised Rahul Gandhi for what he described as "double standards" regarding democratic values. He alleged that while Gandhi frequently champions the protection of the Constitution and democratic institutions in the national arena, the Congress party's actions in Telangana, where it currently holds power, stand in direct contradiction to those principles.

Earlier, Telangana Legislative Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar on March 11 dismissed the last 2 pending disqualification petitions against allegedly defected MLAs Kadiyam Srihari and Danam Nagender.

Danam Nagender had won from the Khairatabad assembly constituency with a BRS ticket and later contested Lok Sabha elections from Secunderabad on a Congress ticket. Though he lost the General elections, his decision to contest on Congress' ticket while being elected as an MLA on a BRS ticket ignited criticism. (ANI)

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