Telangana Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar on Wednesday dismissed the disqualification petitions towards 5 of the ten MLAs who defected from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi to the ruling Congress after the 2023 state elections, reported The Hindu.
The speaker handed the order citing a lack of proof, based on The Indian Express. He held that the MLAs stay affiliated to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi.
Those who had been granted reduction are Alhambra MLA Tellam Venkat Rao, Gadwal MLA Bandla Krishnamohan Reddy, Rajendranagar MLA T Prakash Goud, Patancheru MLA Gudem Mahipal Reddy and Serilingampally MLA Arekapudi Gandhi.
The petitions towards Kale Yadaiah, Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, Sanjay Kumar, Danam Nagender and Kadiyam Srihari are but to be determined.
The Bharat Rashtra Samithi had appealed to the speaker to disqualify the ten MLAs in March 2024 and April 2024.
After the order on Wednesday, Bharat Rashtra Samithi Working President KT Rama Rao alleged that the speaker was “obeying the instructions” of Chief Minister Revanth Reddy.
“It is a merciless joke in democracy,” Rao was quoted as saying. “He [speaker] appears to be performing as a result of, because the chief minister himself, on the ground of the Assembly stated, nothing will occur to the MLAs who’ve defected. The speaker can also be obeying his instructions and dictums.”
Rao stated that his celebration will problem the choice within the courtroom.
On July 31, the Supreme Court directed the speaker to determine inside three months on the disqualification of the ten MLAs.
If political defections aren’t curbed, it has the potential to disrupt democracy, the courtroom had stated.
The bench had additionally put aside a Telangana High Court ruling that courts can not impose a time restrict on the speaker to determine on disqualification pleas.
On November 17, the courtroom issued a contempt discover towards the speaker for not taking a name on the pleas.
