Hyderabad, 24 September (H.S.): The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed Danam Nagender's plea challenging the Telangana High Court order disqualifying him as the Khairatabad MLA under the anti-defection law, upholding the High Court's verdict and leaving the Assembly seat vacant.

A three-judge Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana found no ground to interfere with the High Court's judgment. The High Court had disqualified Nagender under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution after holding that he contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Secunderabad as a Congress candidate while continuing as a BRS MLA.

Nagender had won the Khairatabad Assembly constituency in the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections on a Bharat Rashtra Samithi ticket. He subsequently contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Secunderabad on a Congress ticket while continuing as a member of the Telangana Legislative Assembly.

The Telangana High Court had on September 18 set aside the decision of Assembly Speaker G. Prasad Kumar rejecting the disqualification petitions and declared the Khairatabad Assembly seat vacant. The High Court held that Nagender stood disqualified with effect from April 23, 2024, when he contested the Lok Sabha election as a Congress candidate.

The disqualification petitions before the High Court had been filed by BJP MLA Alleti Maheshwar Reddy and BRS MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy.

The Supreme Court's order leaves the High Court's disqualification decision in force. The Election Commission is yet to announce the schedule for the by-election to the Khairatabad Assembly constituency.

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Indrani Sarkar