Congress defection gets a Supreme Court sequel
The Telangana High Court disqualified Danam Nagender and declared Khairatabad vacant. He has now moved the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the challenge urgently but has not granted a stay.
The Khairatabad seat remains vacant as the disqualification challenge moves to the Supreme Court.
The Telangana High Court disqualified Danam Nagender as an MLA and declared the Khairatabad Assembly seat vacant. The order took effect from April 23, 2024 — the day Nagender filed his nomination as a Congress candidate for the Secunderabad Lok Sabha seat while still representing the BRS in the Assembly.
The court also set aside Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar’s March 11 order dismissing the disqualification petitions. Nagender’s request to suspend the order while he approached the Supreme Court was rejected. The court directed that its order be communicated to the Assembly Speaker and the Election Commission.
Nagender has since filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court. The Court agreed to list it urgently, but no stay has been reported and no accessible court record confirms a September 23 hearing. The Congress government’s defection arithmetic has therefore reached the Supreme Court, while Khairatabad remains vacant under the operative High Court order.