Party hopping meets the Tenth Schedule
Reports say the Supreme Court dismissed Danam Nagender’s challenge to his disqualification from the Khairatabad Assembly seat.
A vacant Khairatabad seat follows the court’s disqualification order.
The Supreme Court has reportedly dismissed Danam Nagender’s challenge to the Telangana High Court order disqualifying him as Khairatabad MLA. The High Court had declared him disqualified from April 23, 2024, and the seat vacant. The dismissal was reported on September 24, 2026; the Supreme Court’s written order has not yet been located.
Nagender was elected from Khairatabad on a BRS ticket in 2023. The Supreme Court’s July 31, 2025 judgment records the allegation that he joined the Congress on March 15, 2024. The High Court later held that filing nomination and campaigning as a Congress candidate for the Lok Sabha election could amount to voluntarily giving up BRS membership under the Tenth Schedule.
The Supreme Court hearing account records the bench referring to a “double party hopper” and ending with: “Back to the party. Not to the Assembly.” Congress’s political hospitality has now met constitutional housekeeping. The Election Commission has not, on the material reviewed, issued a by-election schedule.