Hyderabad: The Supreme Court has upheld the Telangana High Court’s decision to disqualify Danam Nagender as the Khairatabad MLA under the anti-defection law, leaving the Assembly constituency seat vacant.
The Supreme Court’s decision came after Nagender challenged the High Court’s September 18 verdict. The High Court had set aside the Telangana Assembly Speaker’s decision rejecting petitions seeking his disqualification and declared Nagender disqualified under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
Nagender had won the Khairatabad Assembly constituency in the 2023 Telangana elections on a Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) ticket. He later joined the Congress and contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Secunderabad as a Congress candidate while continuing as an MLA.
The High Court held that Nagender incurred disqualification from April 23, 2024, the date on which he contested the Lok Sabha election as a Congress candidate. It also declared the Khairatabad Assembly seat vacant.
The disqualification petitions were filed by BJP MLA Alleti Maheshwar Reddy and BRS MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy after the Assembly Speaker had rejected the petitions against Nagender.
Nagender subsequently approached the Supreme Court, with the matter listed for hearing on September 23.
With the Supreme Court upholding the disqualification, the Khairatabad Assembly seat remains vacant and a by-election will be required. The Election Commission of India is yet to announce the polling schedule.
