Danam verdict day arrives; judgment still missing
The Telangana High Court scheduled September 16 to pronounce its decision on challenges to the Speaker’s rejection of disqualification pleas against Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender. The verdict could not be confirmed from the court’s public record.
The High Court had scheduled September 16 for the judgment in the disqualification case; the order was not available on its public website at the latest check.
The Telangana High Court scheduled Wednesday, September 16, 2026, to pronounce its judgment on petitions challenging Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar’s decision not to disqualify Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender. As of the latest check, the judgment itself was not available on the court’s public website. The date exists; the verdict remains on a separate timetable.
BRS MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy and BJP MLA Alleti Maheshwar Reddy challenged the Speaker’s March 11 decision, which was reported as finding insufficient evidence that Nagender had voluntarily given up BRS membership. Nagender had contested the 2023 Assembly election as a BRS candidate and later fought the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Secunderabad as a Congress candidate, facts recorded in a Supreme Court judgment.
The petitioners relied on his reported meeting with Congress leaders, photographs of him wearing a Congress scarf, his selection as the Congress Lok Sabha candidate and his campaign activities. Nagender’s side argued that photographs, media reports and a scarf did not prove defection, and pointed to Assembly records that continued to identify him as a BRS member.
The Supreme Court has held that a Speaker acting under the Tenth Schedule functions as a tribunal and must decide disqualification petitions within a reasonable period. Whether the High Court upholds, quashes or modifies the Speaker’s order is not yet confirmed. The Congress gets the political optics; Telangana is still waiting for the legal paperwork.