Hyderabad: In a significant move, Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy of the Telangana High Court has instructed the Secretary of the Telangana Legislative Assembly to present three pending writ petitions to the Speaker. These petitions seek the disqualification of MLAs who have defected from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) to the Congress. The court has directed that a schedule be set for the filing of pleadings, submission of documents, and personal hearings on these matters.
The Secretary has been ordered to submit a status report regarding the Speaker's schedule to the Judicial Registry within four weeks. Justice Reddy also stated that if the Speaker does not act on these petitions and schedule the necessary hearings, the court will reopen the cases and issue further directives.
Among the petitions, one was filed by Aleti Maheshwar Reddy, a BJP MLA from Nirmal. He has requested the court to direct the Speaker to disqualify Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender, who defected from the BRS to the Congress and contested in the recent Lok Sabha elections. Reddy claimed that his attempt to submit the petition to the Speaker’s office on July 1, 2024, was obstructed as he was denied an acknowledgment by the staff.
The second petition, also seeking the disqualification of Danam Nagender, was filed by Huzurabad MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy. The third petition was submitted by Kuna Pandu Vivekananda, requesting the disqualification of Bhadradri Kothagudem MLA Venkata Rao Tellam and Ghanpur (SC Reserved) MLA Kadiyam Srihari, who have also defected from the BRS to the Congress.