SC to hear BRS petitions on 10 defected MLAs today

Hyderabad: The Supreme Court will hear two election disqualification petitions filed by the BRS (Bharat Rashtra Samithi) on Monday.

BRS working president KT Rama Rao had filed a writ petition in the apex court seeking disqualification of seven MLAs. Subsequently, BRS MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy moved the apex court over the delay by the assembly speaker in deciding the fate of three other MLAS who have defected to the ruling Congress party.

Last week, a bench of Justices BR Gavai and AG Masih tagged KTR’s petition seeking the disqualification of seven party legislators who crossed over to the ruling Congress party.

In January, the opposition party had filed two separate petitions in the apex court, seeking directions for action against 10 MLAs who switched to Congress.

The Supreme Court recently asked the Telangana State Assembly as to what would be a reasonable timeframe to decide on the disqualification pleas filed against the defecting MLAs. The court also asked senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi (representing the Secretary of the Telangana Legislative Assembly) to reach out to the Speaker and convey their views on the matter.

A total of 10 party MLAs had crossed over to Congress after their victory on BRS tickets in the 2023 assembly election without resigning as legislators. The details of the defected MLAs are: Danam Nagender (Khairatabad), Bandla Krishna Mohan Reddy (Gadwal), Kadiyam Srihari (Ghanpur), Tellam Venkat Rao (Bhadradri Kothagudem), Pocharam Srinivas Reddy (Banswada), Kale Yadaiah (Chevella), T. Prakash Goud (Rajendranagar), M. Sanjay Kumar (Jagityal), Gudem Mahipal Reddy (Patancheru) and Arekapudi Gandhi (Serilingampally).