
Hyderabad: The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) filed two petitions in the Supreme Court on Thursday, January 16 regarding action against defected MLAs. The party seeks the disqualification of 10 legislators who switched allegiance to the ruling Congress.
The petitions urge the Supreme Court to direct the Telangana assembly speaker and secretary to take prompt action and establish a timeline for resolving the disqualification cases.
The BRS filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) against three MLAs including Danam Nagender, Kadiyam Srihari, and Tellam Venkat Rao and a writ petition against seven others mentioning Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, Kale Yadaiah, M Sanjay Kumar, Krishnamohan Reddy, Mahipal Reddy, Prakash Goud and Arekapudi Gandhi.
The main Opposition party pointed out that despite a November 2024 ruling by the High Court directing the Assembly Speaker to act on the disqualification pleas under the anti-defection law, no action has been taken since the verdict.
The High court’s division bench led by chief justice Alok Aradhe and justice J Srinivas Rao had dismissed a petition seeking direct disqualification and left the matter to the Speaker’s discretion.
Citing the Keisham Meghachandra case, which emphasized the Speaker’s duty to decide on disqualification petitions within a reasonable timeframe, the BRS has appealed to the Supreme Court to enforce a decision within four weeks.
The decision to file the petitions followed discussions led by senior BRS leader and Siddipet MLA T Harish Rao with a legal team in New Delhi on January 15.
The BRS also noted the lack of action from the Speaker and Legislature Secretary pointing out that even preliminary notices were not issued to the defected MLAs.